A Handful of Earth
by SmokeAndEmber
Summary: Set six weeks after 'A Change of Worlds' concludes. See what happens next in the post-apoc world of Sookie Stackhouse now that she is safe, healed, and home.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is the short sequel to _A Change of Worlds_. If you haven't read ACOW yet... Then this story won't make a lick of sense to you and the world it's set it in will be pretty confusing too. So I encourage you to read it if you haven't done so already.

This won't be very long. I expect it to be no more than 10 chapters. Majority already written.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"What about Sadie?" I held the small yellow-paged book above my head, the sky behind it stretching across blue and endless.

"No. Too American," Claudine replied and I turned my head to poke my tongue out at her. The grass tickled my cheek.

"Okay…" I flicked through the pages at random before opening the book again. "What about Estelle? Or Evelyn?"

There was a shriek, and I lifted my head off the grass to see Hunter darting around the trees, Dermot and Colman popping back and forth away from him. I couldn't help but smile at the joy on his face, how it flooded his thoughts as he tried his hardest to use his telepathy to locate the fairies popping out of sight through the forest.

I heard Claudine's sharp intake of breath beside me and when I looked to her, she grabbed my arm excitedly. She was on her side facing me, the both of us laying in the sunny grass outside the old farmhouse in Bon Temps.

"Quickly, cousin, feel this," she said. She lifted her flowy blouse and placed my hand on her warm, round stomach. I felt a soft thudding and rolling against my hand.

"Wow…" I breathed, not daring to move my hand even as I turned on my side to face her too. I eventually lifted my hand up to watch as a round lump moved and poked out from below her rib cage. Her stomach shifted and the lump disappeared.

"Was that an elbow?" I asked.

"Maybe," she smiled. She rubbed her stomach contentedly. I could feel the gentle pulse of the two little minds growing inside her. There were no discernable thoughts; just a steady thrum of needs met, of warmth and comfort.

Dermot popped beside us, his face lit up as brightly as daylight. "He's getting better!"

Hunter ran across the grass towards us and Dermot popped right in front of him, sweeping him up into his arms. They both laughed uproariously and took off for the trees again.

"He's so much like Jason," I said watching Dermot. It made my heart hurt. Dermot and Jason could have almost passed for twins.

"I wish for you that he could be here," Claudine said, patting my hand sympathetically.

"He would've made a great uncle."

My stomach grumbled loudly and we laughed, the sad moment dissolving. We were being lazy laying in the grass anyway, it was way past lunch time. At least Claudine had an excuse. I could see the way the weariness of late pregnancy was drawing around her features. Her brown eyes still held their customary twinkle, but the slight circles under her eyes revealed the extent of her weariness. I helped Claudine to her feet and we headed inside to the kitchen.

Gran's house was restored again to its former pre-apocalypse glory. In fact, it looked even better now. The boards were pulled off the windows, the hardwood floors buffed and waxed, and Dermot, Claude and Colman had just finished repainting the outside a week earlier. The garden had taken off as well; everything that had been planted seemed to have grown by a foot between each visit. Niall had blessed the grounds, Claudine told me, and everything here would now and forever grow with abundance. I loved seeing the life being breathed back into my childhood home.

For lunch that day, Dermot had brought through a basket laden with fresh salad greens and vegetables from Faerie, and so Claudine and I sat at the kitchen table, slicing tomatoes and some exotic variety of cucumber for a salad.

"So…?" Claudine asked with an inquiring smile. She scraped the sliced tomatoes from the chopping board into the bowl and set her knife down on top of the board.

"What?"

"I wish to know how it's going with your vampire." She leaned an elbow onto the table, resting her chin on her hand, brown eyes sparkling.

I finished slicing the cucumbers and added them to the bowl.

"I – well…" I trailed off, reaching out with mental feelers to check on Hunter, now a nervous habit of mine. He was still playing in the yard. "Things are… good."

"Good?" She scrunched the tip of her nose. "Of all the descriptors you could pick, you simply choose 'good'?"

"Well, things are. I'm not sure what else you want me to say." I grabbed a bunch of chives and stood to rinse them under the faucet.

"How about, he loves me passionately with every last one of his undying breaths and my life now has meaning with him by my side?"

I shot her a look from over my shoulder. "Claudine, does that sound like the sort of thing I'd say?"

Claudine laughed melodiously. "True, cousin. I might be inclined to check your temperature if you'd said that."

I returned with the washed chives and sat back down.

"If you must know, things are great between us. When we're together… I don't know, it's like life seems in technicolor."

Claudine looked at me blankly.

"You know," I paused my chopping to gesture with the knife, "things seem brighter, life feels happier. It's just all the other stuff."

"Mmhmm…" she said encouragingly.

I sighed and set the knife down. "Do you really want to hear this?"

She nodded eagerly and I narrowed my eyes.

"Why?"

Pam was always hounding me for details if only to satisfy her irrepressible curiosity and to find details to needle Eric with. Not that I thought Claudine was doing the same, but then again, who really knew with fairies.

"You are family; I care for you, Sookie. I simply wish to know how your life is."

She took my hand, instilling it with her fairy warmth, the kind that makes you overflow with feelings of wellness.

"Okay," I sighed, relenting as I enjoyed the warm of her touch. "What I mean by 'other stuff' is… is the difficulties of a long distance relationship, and how tricky it is to even have a relationship while sharing a house with another telepath. I feel like I'm constantly on guard, like I have to either mentally check on Hunter every few minutes to make sure he's still there, and still sleeping, slash not listening in when we… You know." My cheeks prickled, turning red. "Otherwise, I'm just struggling with keeping my shields up for when it counts - if you catch my drift. Then there's the whole issue of having a vampire for a boyfriend - when the last vampires to roll through town killed two of its citizens and kidnapped another. I've been a hot topic of debate at more than one town meeting." I exhaled heavily with the end of my spiel.

"That's a lot to deal with."

"You're telling me." I picked up the knife and resumed chopping. I was just waiting for the citizens of River Rock to start calling me Crazy Sookie behind my back. Or maybe take it one step further and drive me out with pitchforks.

"I might be able to help with the shielding issue."

"Really?" I asked, hope flaring. Claudine smiled gently and leaned forward on the table resting her chin on her fist.

"Let me talk to Dermot and I'll get back to you on that."

"No!" I yelped, feeling my cheeks turn completely beet red. "Don't tell him what I said. It's so embarrassing." Last thing I wanted was my great-uncle knowing I needed any sort of help in the sex department.

"Oh, Sookie," she said with an airy laugh. "You're not the only person in a household with telepaths that's encountered this problem. Granted, your breed of telepathy is quite different to fae telepathy, but there are still things in Faerie that can help with it… And as well, you also know Colman and I would be thrilled to have Hunter for the night here in your family home."

"I know, I know," I sighed. She had offered often enough. "But you understand... It's hard for me to let go of him for the night when you're all the way here and I'm still back in South Carolina. It's not like I pop in to check on him."

I could barely let Hunter out of my sight in the evenings, let alone for a whole night states away with an otherworldly family I was still getting to know.

After Claudine and I had first met on the morning of that fateful night I rescued Hunter, she had become a fixture in my life. She, like Pam, visited frequently. Colman, Claudine's fairy husband, accompanied her often too. It was hard not to love Claudine. And Colman, who I was initially distrustful of, I was also slowly warming to. It was mostly because I saw the way he looked at Claudine when she wasn't watching. He was devoted.

I was thrilled when Claudine announced her pregnancy. In fact, we danced around my kitchen in much the same way as we had in the farmhouse attic when I'd found the cluviel dor. But it was Colman who approached me alone one morning to speak to me about it privately.

I had returned home from bike riding with Hunter, and we sat in the front garden of my house at River Rock sharing a pitcher of sweet tea, watching as Hunter searched for frogs in the low reeds surrounding the small fish pond we'd dug out front.

Fighting between fairy factions continued, he had told me, and with the fairy's dreadfully low birth rates, he didn't feel it was safe for her to carry a pregnancy in Faerie. He was mostly concerned about her stress levels, and he confided that she had suffered through several miscarriages before finally conceiving the twins. This was her longest pregnancy so far. When he asked me about letting him restore my old family home for them to live in during the duration of the pregnancy, I had simply hugged him and told him it was theirs if they wanted it.

Hunter and I began spending days with our fairy brethren in Bon Temps, Colman popping Hunter and I back and forth between South Carolina and Louisiana. Niall sometimes joined in on our family get-togethers too, and I eventually came to know more of my kin, Claude and Dermot. Some of my wariness for fairies remained, but ultimately what swayed me was how deeply they valued family. That and the fact my family were part of the Sky clan, a faction of fairies who were in deep opposition to the Water clan - the clan who brought about the end of the world. Maybe not literally, but they'd certainly brought about the end to humanity.

My fairy kin's family values ended up being a quality that resonated with me. They considered me and Hunter family and so cared for us implicitly. I found it hard not to care for them in return.

"And all else is good with you and Eric?" Claudine continued. "He treats you well? Niall says he has long carried a reputation as an amazing lover."

"Oh my god," I muttered, my blush deepening for a whole list of different reasons. That was the other thing about fairies. They had absolutely no understanding of normal human boundaries. I'd woken one morning after spending the night in Bon Temps to find Claude, completely in the nude and frying up eggs on Gran's favorite cast iron pan.

"Just don't forget about my offer," she whispered as Hunter came clattering into the kitchen, declaring fatal levels of hunger at the top of his lungs. I told her I'd consider it, as my mind thought of another similar solution.

* * *

I opened my front door after the first knock and dragged Eric in off the porch by his jacket. His face lit up and he kicked the door shut behind him, backing me up against the wall.

"Miss me?" he murmured, blazing a trail of kisses along my neck and clavicle.

"What do you think?" I half panted, half whispered the words, tugging at the zip of his leather jacket. My mouth finally found his and we kissed passionately. Eric growled and picked me up, my legs wrapping around him. Our mouths parted long enough for him to throw off his jacket and for me pull his t-shirt over his head. He began down the hall to the bedroom.

"No," I said in between reacquainting my lips with his amazing pecs. "The living room."

Eric's footsteps faltered.

"Really? What if Hunter…?"

"He's not here," I said, grazing my teeth over his nipple. "Having a sleepover with Bec and Abby for the night."

I pulled away and grinned at the way his expression changed upon learning that tidbit. We zipped into the living room where I had earlier dragged my mattress in front of the fireplace.

I landed back onto the mattress with a bounce and a giggle. I hurried to pull my white sundress up and over my head while Eric kneeled at the foot of the bed, watching with unrestrained hunger. I crawled to him and kissed my way slowly up his abs, using my tongue and teeth on his nipples in the way I knew made him go crazy. He grunted my name and I pulled myself all the way up to stand on my knees, finally drawing his mouth back down to mine.

"Do you have any idea how fucking sexy you are?" he growled, hands roaming up my hips and over the front of my lacy white bra.

"Look who's talking, buddy," I said, removing the band holding his hair back and curling my fingers through his braid, loosening it.

"Buddy? I think I'm more than just your buddy." His hand traveled under the thin fabric of my lace thong, stroking me gently. "Wouldn't you agree?"

I moaned, pressing another hard kiss against his lips and reached back to pull my hair out of its bun too; my small gift to him. I felt the growl reverberate through him as my hair fell loose, and we landed back on the bed, his heavy frame pressed against mine.

"I thought you might like that." I felt my laughter bubble up. I always made a point to shower thoroughly after returning from seeing Claudine in order to get the scent of fae off me, but today I opted to keep my hair in a shower cap while bathing and skip washing it for his benefit.

"My devious little fairy," he said. I felt his smile and fangs at my neck as he breathed me in, sending my lady parts into overdrive. It made me wonder if I had finally lost all sense of survival instinct. At that moment, the possibility was quite distinct. Clothing rapidly vanished, Eric's fingers at the juncture between my thighs, stroking me, racing me to the brink while I clung onto him, waiting to be launched over the edge.

"Now," I panted, "I need you now…"

I hooked my leg up over his hip and he guided the hard tip of himself to my entrance, gently teasing me there up and down, his thumb running light circles over my clit. I whimpered both in pleasure and in torment from the denial, urging him on with breathy pleas.

He teased me still and I held back my climax until I could no longer, until it was too late to turn around and backtrack. I dug my nails into his shoulders, crying out in abandon and he finally entered me with one smooth thrust as my orgasm hit. His name burst from my lips with a loud exclamation, my hands continuing to explore the hard muscles and ridges of his back. He kissed me deeply as my walls clenched around him, and in that moment the only things in this world that existed was us, and this bed and the sensation of him moving inside me.

I rolled him onto his back and rode him on top, our eyes locked, and his hands on my breasts, caressing me, bringing me rapidly close to the edge of another steep climax. I leaned over and pressed my neck to him. His fangs grazed against my pulse point, his hands moving to guide my hips up and down against him. We really were getting this down to a fine art.

"Sweet Sookie…" he groaned and he bit me, his movements turning jerky and deep as he came inside me. I followed a moment after, lost in another round of good feeling. He fed lazily then, his arms enveloping me, holding me close to his chest.

We lay quietly, my head resting on his shoulder, his hand absently stroking my back. I focused on catching my breath while brushing away the strands of my hair from his face. Eric pricked his fingertip against a fang and rubbed the blood that welled there against the bite marks on my neck.

I'd never asked him to heal his bite marks on my neck, but somehow he'd seemed to sense it was necessary with all the discontent I was facing from townsfolk. And anyway, there were usually bite marks hidden in other locations that he never bothered with healing, and those I quite liked catching the odd glimpse of as I undressed on the nights he wasn't visiting. A little thrill to remind me of him when he was back in Atlanta.

Lord help me, I was turning into a hussy.

"I like your wood fire," he said, after reality returned to us both. I poked his ribs in response.

"It's too warm to light the fire," I groused. "The candles work just as well." I'd set a line of candles on the hearth before his arrival and lit them trying to set the right mood. We had never spent a night without Hunter since Eric and I rekindled our... Our whatever we were.

"Don't tell me you're getting romantic on me, lover. Trying to recreate the moment?" He rolled over on top of me, boxing me in with his arms.

I froze, deer caught in the headlights. Wasn't that exactly what I was doing? Trying to recapture how it was on those nights in Tennessee? Judging by the smug look on his face he wanted me to spell it out for him. Dammit. Sneaky vampire. It had only been a few weeks. I was so not going there yet and I would definitely not be the one to reveal my feelings first. We weren't Define The Relationship point, or the Define The Anything, really. Taking it as it came was the theme I was working with when it came to Eric Northman.

"I, uh…"

He gave me a shit-eating grin, and I cursed inwardly. Not answering was as good as a yes. He told me not to move, blurring from the bed and out of the room. I heard the faucet running in the bathroom and he was back a moment later, with a washcloth in one hand and my book in the other. We cleaned up and he reclaimed his position next to me in bed.

"How has your week been?" I asked once he'd trapped me under his limbs again.

"Uneventful, until now." He kissed me. "The city is having troubles regulating the bacteria levels of the drinking water in the water reservoir, so I've been tasked with helping them all week."

"What does that involve?"

"Diving into the reservoir and checking for contaminants."

I tried to picture Eric in diving gear and couldn't quite manage. Who was I kidding? He probably did it naked.

"Any luck with that?"

"Found some dead cattle, strangely enough. I retrieved the carcasses. I'm confident that will resolve the issue."

"And how's Pam?"

"Bored of Atlanta; she has become incorrigible. I was tempted to restrain her just so that I could leave for South Carolina alone. She was determined to come along."

"She's finally sucked and fucked her way through every available woman in Atlanta, then?"

Eric gave me a somewhat surprised look at my words and called me a minx.

"Those were her words, not mine!" I protested.

Eric chuckled and asked after my week. I kept it light, telling him about my day with Hunter in Bon Temps, working in my garden and out at the farm earlier in the week. I shared how I tagged along with Owen and the engineer, Nick, the day before as they performed maintenance on the power poles. Nick let me climb up alongside him in the harness and we replaced some of the ceramic insulators, he'd also shown me inside some of the tin teapot-looking transformer canisters. I asked Eric if he knew they were filled with gallons of mineral oil.

"No, lover, I did not. Is that safe?"

"Completely. The power is down during daylight hours."

"And climbing that high?" He sounded dubious.

"I'd like you to recall that I escaped off the third-floor balcony of a certain someone's suite in Florida perfectly unharmed and unharnessed."

"You never did tell me how you managed that." His eyes narrowed. I smiled sweetly. Oh, I bet that had been niggling him for a good long while.

"…You know, I was raised to believe every woman should always leave a little to mystery."

"Do I need to remind you, that for all your gymnastic feats you still managed to slip and fall on a fence paling?"

I decided I had enough talk of the past and tried to distract him by sliding between his legs, kissing my way down his cool body until my mouth found someplace that brought all conversation to a halt and began much more enjoyable endeavors within the present.

I curled to Eric's side a little while later, trying to focus as Eric read from another chapter of _The Long Home_ , a novel which had been gripping and demanding of my attention when we'd read it together on previous nights, but not this evening. I found my mind wandering, pensive.

"Sookie…" he said, for the third time since he'd begun reading.

"Sorry. Keep going," I murmured into his chest. "I'm listening."

He read another paragraph before closing the book. He slid out from under me and got up off the mattress. I propped myself on one elbow, watching as he dressed.

"What are you doing?"

He picked up my dress and handed it to me.

"We're going for a walk," he said. I frowned at him but got out of bed. I lifted the blankets and looked under the sofa trying to locate my underthings but only managed to find my underpants, not my bra. I gave up on the bra, and just wriggled back into my dress and panties.

"And why are we going for a walk?" I asked, pulling my hair up into a messy bun.

"Because you can't relax." He looked down at me, his brows lifting in a way that dared me to defy his statement. I frowned deeper back at him. I'd just relaxed with him… Twice in a row, thank you very much. I bit back my knee-jerk retort and huffed instead.

So, okay, maybe he had a point.

I pulled on my vans and grabbed my cardigan from beside the door on the way out. We walked alongside one another through the quiet streets. I eventually reached out and took his hand, looping my fingers through his. I quickly cottoned on to where he was taking me.

The night was cooling now but still pleasant. It had rained earlier in the day, so the air smelled fresh and dewy, the crickets out in full force. As we walked closer towards the center of town, I could sense the minds around us were slowing with the day's end or simply sleeping.

My shields weren't as great as they were back in their hey-day when I worked at Merlotte's, I was out of practice in many ways, but having Eric beside me tempered any stray thoughts. Holding his hand, I had to mentally reach out with my mind to actually listen in. He was like a brain buffer for me.

My home was on the outskirts of River Rock, more or less isolated with no one living in the surrounding streets. I'd told Jessup when Hunter and I first came to town that it was important to have somewhere isolated to live, that I suffered extreme migraines and needed the quiet. So he'd shown me the street, with the large properties and modestly sized homes hidden down long driveways. The isolation was essential - for me and especially for Hunter. We couldn't have any people living around us. Not if we wanted it to be a place to relax mentally.

We walked in companionable silence for the ten-minute walk until we arrived at Bec's clapboard home. He sat me down on the curb opposite and settled beside me. A dim light illuminated Bec's sitting room where a white lacy privacy curtain covered the window, though I could still see the back of her head from where she sat in her favorite recliner. She was sewing.

I felt for Hunter's mind inside, he was resting peacefully. He was within a cycle of deep sleep; his mind empty of dreams. I rested my head against Eric's shoulder, sinking back into his enveloping silence.

"He's safe," I whispered. Eric moved to stand up, but I grasped his hand. "Wait. Just a little longer."

My ass was getting wet on the nature strip and I felt practically indecent being in public without a bra on and with only a thong under my dress, but right at that moment, I felt like I could let my heart breathe again.

"This is ridiculous," Eric muttered to himself after the minutes crept by. He stood and zipped up to Bec's door before I could stop him. He knocked three times.

"What are you doing?" I hissed and I jogged across to him. Too late, the door swung open.

"Oh - hey Sookie. Hi Eric." Bec held the quilt she was working on over her arm, the needle still tucked into the edge of a large daisy she'd been appliquéing into the corner of the blanket.

"We're here for the boy," Eric said flatly.

Bec's brow pinched together and she looked to me. "He's fine. He settled fine without you, Sook. The kids had a great evening together."

"I know," I said, giving her a helpless smile. I was less than thrilled Eric took the initiative without asking, but I wasn't too proud to admit to myself that I was glad he did. Bec eyes softened in sympathy and she stepped back, opening the door a little wider.

"Come in, then. The both of you."

Eric collected Hunter from the mattress on the floor of Abby's room where he was sleeping. Hunter barely stirred, still lost within the deep confines of slumber. I slipped off my cardigan and tucked it around his shoulders. Seeing him nestled in Eric's arms made me appreciate how small he really was. Maybe it was still a little early for him to be having sleepovers.

I watched Eric from my periphery as we walked back home together. He kept a human pace beside me, a sort of soft resolve in his gaze as he looked straight ahead. His arms were cradling Hunter's form securely and Hunter's face, slack with sleep, was resting against his shoulder. It occurred to me that Eric collecting Hunter hadn't just been solely for my benefit.

We'd made it nearly all the way home when Eric's head shifted slightly, scenting the air. I reached out with mental feelers.

"It's Jessup," I whispered. "And Mike."

They emerged from the shadows of the street before us. Mike had a rifle on his shoulders.

"Evening, Sookie," Jessup nodded. "Eric."

Eric replied with a single neutral nod. Mike, a short ruddy-faced human with golden hair who'd lived in town since the early days, echoed the greeting to both of us.

"A bit late for an evening walk," I said, smiling politely and trying to look casual as I crossed my arms over my chest. Of course we'd come across company the one time I leave the house looking indecent.

"Just patrolling," Mike replied.

"Patrolling?" I echoed.

"It makes folks feel safe," Jessup said, his eyes darting to Eric. I felt my hackles rise.

Eric snorted derisively.

"It makes folk feel safe when you patrol the empty streets near my home?" I questioned. "And let me guess, you only do that on the nights my… my…" I searched for the right word.

"Lover," Eric supplied helpfully. I shot him a look that communicated in no uncertain terms to zip-it.

"Only on the nights Eric visits?" I finished.

"You're bringing a vampire into our community. People ain't happy," Mike shrugged, his fingers drumming against the butt of the rifle he was resting against his shoulder. I began to see red.

"You of all people can understand that," Jessup said coolly, and I could feel the righteous anger he was restraining. He was thinking about Donna. About that night she died. "The community agreed it was a measure that made good sense."

"Did they just?" I hissed between gritted teeth. And there it was. 'The community'. He may not have phrased it like that intentionally, but the implicit meaning was still couched under the term. I was an 'other' now. They were the community and I was Sookie, who just lived there next to them.

A feeling returned, one I hadn't experienced for a long time – the undercurrent of inferiority I experienced growing up in Bon Temps. I was a part of the town, but I wasn't a part of it, not really. I was different. Crazy Sookie. It made me an outsider.

I'd struggled my whole life in Bon Temps trying to fit in… Attending church, working at the local watering hole, participating in working bees, cheering on the Hawks at every high school game, helping out with Sunday school. All that and it was still never enough. Like now.

"I come to South Carolina only to visit Sookie," Eric said. "I have no intentions of… Fraternizing with other locals."

"Don't bother, Eric," I said, stepping between Mike and Jessup to continue walking down the street. "There's no use talking to brick walls. They're incapable of seeing sense."

* * *

 **A/N:** I'll be honest - I'm not a huge fan of kid-oriented stories. Especially when they're the main focus and drag attention away from favorite characters. I think some of you are probably of the same opinion.

Obviously, Sookie being a single mother and in a world where she is more or less isolated with Hunter, this story will feature Hunter to some extent... but I can promise you the majority of the scenes/focus will be on adult interaction, even if it involves Sookie's life with her boy.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N** Thrilled with the response the first chapter received! I didn't anticipate so much interest. Thanks everyone :)

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

I sat with Hunter on his bed, gently stroking his forehead until he fell back asleep. He'd woken when we got home just long enough to use the bathroom and have a drink of water before settling in his own bed. I was actually glad he woke, it meant he wouldn't be shocked when he woke up in the morning to find himself back home.

I flopped onto the sofa when I got back to the sitting room, ignoring the hunky vampire reclining on the queen-sized mattress once again. I let out a huff of frustration.

"Would you like me to end him?" Eric asked. My eyes widened in surprise. He asked it so casually, I had to repeat the words in my head just to make sure he was saying what I thought he was saying.

"You're joking."

"He's the leader here, is he not? I kill Jessup and then we could ensure a more suitable replacement takes his position. Bec, perhaps?"

I dropped my head back against the couch and pressed a fist to my forehead where a headache was beginning to set in. "Urgh. Eric… No. That's not how it works in the real world."

He didn't respond. Probably because that was exactly how it worked in the real world of vampires.

"It doesn't matter who the leader is. I still won't be accepted," I explained finally.

"It's not you they don't accept, it's me." I heard movement and felt Eric's cool hands as he gently removed the shoes from my feet. I lifted my head off the couch and watched as he massaged my foot, his hands trailing up behind my calves.

"I don't know about that," I said quietly. "I have exclusive access into what they think of me. And anyway, if it is you, then they're being racist. Or species-ist, or whatever the hell the word is." He lifted me down onto the mattress and sat me so I was facing him.

"Pamela is leaving Atlanta," he said, his swift change of subject catching me off guard. Swift - like a guillotine landing on a chopping block.

"She is?" My chest constricted at the thought of saying goodbye to my dear friend. The feeling intensified with the next thought. "What about you…?"

"She's going to the west coast. There's talk of a large community there. Humans and vampires living side by side. Electricity all night. Apparently, they have a rudimentary form of the internet running again."

"A compound?" I asked, acutely aware he'd sidestepped my question. I studied his face carefully. The bitter tug at his lips, the determined rise of his brow. I felt something inside me start to crack.

"No," he said quietly. "Living like they did before the plague. As equals. No compound. Come with us."

"I can't," I said hoarsely, I slipped my hands out from under his.

"Why?"

"We're settled here. This is my home. Hunter's home."

"Is it?" He placed just enough emphasis on the words that tears sprung to my eyes.

"So that's it? You're going?"

"I won't settle there without you."

I nodded then, exhaling slowly, willing the tension away. He would allow his child to venture on without him in the new world so he could stay with me. And then what…? He would stay in a city he didn't like, so he could travel across state to visit me in a town where he wasn't welcome and would likely never be. Where was the long-term in that? I swallowed thickly.

How long had passed since he'd first shown up on my door step that rainy night? Six weeks, maybe seven? Our relationship was still fledgling. I couldn't possibly entertain the thought of doing this. I had a child to think about. Only a crazy woman would consider packing up and moving across the country with two vampires. We didn't even have a car. We didn't even know what was waiting for us at the end of the road. And it had only been six weeks!

I scooted away from him and laid down on the mattress with my back to him, pulling the covers over my shoulders. "I can't think about this right now."

"But you will." He got under the covers and spooned me from behind. I stiffened.

"What's that meant to mean?" I couldn't help the accusation in my voice.

"You will think about it."

"Oh." I relaxed against him. "Well, that, I guess I can promise." 

* * *

There was a fairy at my door. And it wasn't my fairy godmother, nor was it a fairy there to collect a tooth from Hunter.

"Sookie."

"Claude." I blinked at him. I wasn't expecting company. I was tired from my late night with Eric, sore in all the right places, and so planning on taking it easy with Hunter for the day. I had a lot to think about.

"Well, are you going to let me in?" he huffed.

"If you tell me why you're here." I leaned against the door jamb and held the door partially closed with one hand.

Claude looked incredible as usual, his long dark hair brushed back off his face, his eyes piercing. He was dressed impeccably in a crisp white linen button up and (extremely) well-fitting sandstone colored chinos. He looked like the dashing leading man from one of those old romance novels I used to read, except with the disposition of a narcissistic ass who thought he was God's gift to green earth.

He lifted the package in his arms. It was wrapped in brown paper and tied neatly with string. I perked up a little.

"Uncle sent me with something for you. If you want me to install it so you can do the horizontal hula with the walking dead and _not_ disturb your son, then you will let me in."

"Fine," I bristled, stepping back to hold the door open for him. God, he was an unredeeming ass. Hunter came barreling in at full speed from the back garden and Claude set the package down on the kitchen table, lifting my boy up into a bear hug.

"Here's my favorite cousin," Claude crooned before setting him down. I stood by smiling. Okay, maybe not a complete ass.

"Claude! Come play with me. I have my trucks in the sandpit!" Hunter jumped up and down, depositing a fine dusting of sand from his clothing onto the floor around him.

"Where's your hat, Hunter?" I asked.

 _Outside, Momma,_ Hunter answered automatically without even breaking his gaze from Claude.

 _Make sure you put it on when you go back out, hon._

"I'll be free to play in a minute, little cousin," said Claude. "But first, your mother and I have something here to put up in your room to help you sleep."

But Hunter, using all his tricks (i.e., puppy eyes, whining 'please' on repeat, pouty bottom lip) managed to con Claude out to the sandpit first, so I made myself useful by fixing a platter for morning tea. Goats' cheese using milk from our very own goat in the back yard, sliced rye, carrot sticks, dried apricots, and prunes. I called the boys back in and we sat together at the kitchen table, Hunter pulling his chair close to Claude.

Between mouthfuls of food, Hunter began busily informing Claude about the new beehive we'd set up in the garden. It was actually a few months old, but the news was still fantastic and fresh for a four-year-old, who now got to enjoy honey sandwiches as a treat on occasion.

Claude was like an utterly different person around Hunter, he became warm and kind. Seeing the way he interacted with Hunter always left me feeling thrown, since it pretty much seemed the only way he was ever capable of behaving was snotty and aloof. At least where I was concerned.

"May I?" I asked, interrupting the conversation when Hunter paused to inhale a fistful of dried fruit.

Claude pushed the package my way and I carefully unwrapped it. Under the brown paper was another layer of fine tissue paper and under that, an ornate silver framed mirror about the size of a dinner plate.

"A mirror?" I lifted it. My face smiled back. A little tired, but there was a wispy quality to my smile. I wasn't sure if that was the mirror's effect or my vampire lover's.

"I'll hang it above the door inside his room if there's space. Otherwise, over his bed will work. Above the door is best, it was designed for doorways. The magical effect will be more effusive from that position; it will encompass the room entirely."

"I don't like it," Hunter said, standing up on his seat to lean over the table to examine the mirror. "I don't want a mirror."

"Back on your bottom, please. You'll hardly notice a mirror above your door, honey." I shifted the mirror across the table for him to see so that he wouldn't need to stand on his seat.

I would've killed for something like this as a child. An object that created a safe space to retreat into when I lived with Mom, Dad, and Jason. Being able to shut a door and block out the thoughts of others sounded incredible.

Hunter shook his head and sat down. "Mommy wants it, not me."

I narrowed my eyes at him. He was picking thoughts from my head.

 _Mommy wants it for you,_ I thought at him.

"You'll be able to relax," said Claude. "You won't hear anything in your head when you're in there. Your dreams will be even sweeter."

After morning tea, I showed Claude the toolbox and left him to Hunter's room so he could properly install the mirror. He didn't ask for my help, so I didn't offer it. He probably needed to do some weird fairy ritual to get it working, anyway.

Hunter and I wandered down to the back, feeding the scraps from morning tea to the goat and then I perched on the edge of the wooden sandpit, helping Hunter dig tracks in the sand for his matchbox cars to race along. Hunter was in his element, racing the cars while supplying the sound effects for them. I gave up trying to stay sand-free and ended up climbing in too.

"Where's Claude, Momma?"

"Oh." He was taking his time. "Has he popped back home?" I lifted my head to listen with both senses. I found him inside but no longer in Hunter's room.

 _Hang on a minute, I'll be right back,_ I told Hunter.

The only response I got from Hunter was the sound of an engine revving. I brushed off my shorts and feet before walking in through the opened french doors. I could feel Claude moving somewhere deeper within the house, maybe in my room. I walked down the hallway and Claude popped right in front of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"All done," he said, smirking in reply. I leveled a suspicious look at him. What was it with supes and not answering direct questions?

"Hunter's waiting for you," I said coolly. Claude sauntered past me down the hall and back towards outside while I trailed into Hunter's room to check the mirror.

I drew a sudden breath as soon as I entered. It was completely silent. Well, not completely - I could still hear the birds outside, the soft chatter of Hunter talking to Claude at the sandpit, and the distant sound of wood chopping from somewhere closer to town. But mentally, my feelers stretched as far as the walls of Hunter's room and then stopped. An invisible barrier was preventing my mind from escaping the confines of the room. It was … bizarre. And fantastic.

I stepped out into the hallway and called Hunter's attention with my mind. _Can you hear what I'm singing?_ I asked. I stepped back into his room and began singing _Twinkle Twinkle Little Star_ in my head. I stepped back into the hallway after one verse.

 _So?_ I asked.

 _Mommy, you sang Twinkly Twinkly Star._

 _Okay. Now you try to sing something._

I stepped back over the threshold into the mental silence of his bedroom. I waited ten seconds and stepped into the hall again. The second I stepped back out into the hall, I caught the tail end of him singing _Happy Birthday_. It worked! I smiled to myself happily. I would hear him mentally if I needed to. But while he was in the room, he wouldn't be able to hear me - unless I physically called out to him.

I moved to join them outside but did a double take as I passed by my bedroom.

Something was different.

I stepped inside slowly. My bed was still made, the white coverlet neat, the throw pillows as I'd left them. But there was now a slight depression on the quilt cover beside the night stand that hadn't been there before. Like someone had been sitting down. The top drawer of my night stand wasn't completely closed either.

I opened the drawer and looked inside. My things had been rifled with. Nothing had been taken from what I could tell. I crossed the room to my sit down at my vanity dressing table. I opened every drawer. Things had been moved, my jewelry box had been rummaged through. I got back up and checked my chest of drawers and the hanging space in the closet. All the same. Things slightly adjusted, slightly different to how I'd left them. I exhaled angrily through my nose. Fucking, intrusive fucking fairies.

I snapped at Claude as soon I got outside. "Did you go through my things?"

"Claudine asked me to see if you had a dress watch. She wanted to get you one for your birthday next month," he answered smoothly, not looking up from where he was sitting in the sand with Hunter. The words came out far too easily. Too practiced. Too practiced for my liking.

I crossed my arms and he looked at me with an expression that could melt the panties off a thousand women. Too bad he didn't swing that way. And that he was a snoop.

"Hunter, say goodbye to Claude. He has to go now."

"Awww…"

Claude smirked as he brushed past me on his way out. "Until next time, cousin!" he waved, popping away mid-stride down the garden path.

Hunter and I washed the sand from our hands in the bathroom and I set him up with some blocks in the lounge room. I grabbed the hammer Claude had used to hang the mirror and walked into the spare bedroom. I checked with my mind for anyone, fairies or otherwise, in the vicinity and shut the curtains over the bedroom windows. I needed privacy.

I heaved and shifted the dresser that sat in the corner and peeled up the corner of carpet underneath so it revealed the timber flooring. I sat down cross legged and pulled up at the nails on the second floorboard from the corner. They hadn't been nailed down completely flush with the boards, so it only took a handful of tugs to get them out. I lifted the floorboard out and retrieved the small plastic tupperware container hidden underneath. Inside the container was a crushed midnight blue velvet bag. I opened it and tipped the contents into my hand.

The cluviel dor slipped out into the palm of my hand, warm and welcoming. I closed my fist around the object.

Claude hadn't found it.


	3. Chapter 3

Long time no update. Trying to finish this story in the spirit of NaNoWriMo (and in the spirit of there being a lull in my freelance work and post-grad schooling). I've got this chapter and another two written. I expect it to be 8-10 chapters in total. The next chapter will be out in a few days.

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Hunter and I ate an early dinner at home. Afterward, I wrangled him into his hoodie and sweatpants. I packed my backpack with a couple bottles of hard apple cider I'd picked up at the previous swap market.

We rode our bikes down into the main part of town and pulled up at Owen's house, a small brick home painted white. It was well maintained, but the garden and style of home, with its neatly trimmed hedges and small garden gnomes, were more suited to an elderly person rather than a mid-20s bachelor. I always found it a bit odd that Owen has picked this place above all the others in town.

I knocked on the screen door, calling out to announce our arrival and grabbed onto Hunter's hand tightly. He was planning to barge right on in.

"Hey, guys. What a nice surprise." Owen opened the screen door.

"We're not intruding, are we?"

"Nope. Just got back from the body shop. I'd just put my feet up and decided it was time to do sweet fu…" He trailed off catching the curse word in time. "Sweet stuff all," he finished off lamely instead. He gave me his usual self-deprecating lopsided smile.

"Well, if you don't mind entertaining a couple of local misfits for a while, I've got a bottle of hard apple cider with your name on it."

"How can I say no to that? You better come in."

We sat out on his back stoop, each with a bottle of cider and watched as Hunter tore around the garden with Roley, Owen's golden retriever.

"You should get a dog," Owen said, as Hunter began throwing a stick for Roley.

"No thanks," I said with a resolute shake of my head. "I have enough trouble keeping one extra mouth fed, I don't need to worry about another. Hunter is like an endless vacuum where food goes in. I can't keep up."

Owen laughed, taking a swig from his drink. "He's a growing boy. They need a lot of food. Believe me… I was one of five brothers."

"Good grief, your poor mother." My eyes widened as I imagined the number of dishes and laundry. Or just the grocery bill alone.

He chuckled. "Yeah, I doubt it was easy, though she made it seem like it." He turned serious and shifted to look at me plain in the face. "So, what's up, Sook? I know you didn't come all this way to make small talk. It's not like you've made much of an effort at friendship since we split."

I felt my cheeks prickle with shame. He wasn't wrong.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I'm a lousy friend."

He waved his hand dismissively. "That's not what I meant. Water under the bridge. Tell me what's bothering ya."

I sighed, my eyes returning to Hunter.

"Did you know Jessup has arranged to patrol the streets near my place during the nights when I have Eric visit? And Pam too, I'm guessing."

His expression and thoughts softened with sympathy, and I exhaled slowly, looking down at the bottle in my hands. I guess that answered that question. I was the last to know.

"How does he even know when they visit?" I complained. "Pam arrives without warning most times."

"Eric doesn't, though, does he?"

I gave him a sharp look. Eric had been visiting every Tuesday night and most Fridays too. "So this was your idea too?"

"No. But Jessup had a meeting at his place one night, floated the idea past a few folks."

"Why does it feel like I'm being targeted?"

"It's not you Sookie…"

"It's not me?!" I asked, my voice turning shrill. I dropped it to a harsh whisper when I saw Hunter glance across to us as he wrestled a stick off Roley. "I would never do anything to jeopardize the safety of people in River Rock."

"Of course you wouldn't, not intentionally. But vampires are like rats, Sookie. Eric and Pam might be alright, but where there's one or two there's always more."

"That is incredibly racist, Owen." I slammed my drink down and stood up. He grasped my wrist to prevent me from stalking away.

"Wait, I didn't mean for it to come out like that."

"Then tell me, how exactly did you mean it to come out when you likened my… my… the man I'm dating to a household pest?!"

"I don't want to upset you. I can see how happy you are with him." He didn't try and take his insult back, though. I lowered my shields to catch his stream of consciousness. _Rats live in nests. And they bite,_ he thought. _And he is no man._

"That's really prejudiced, you know?"

Owen's face twisted with confusion. "How is wanting you to be happy prejudiced?" It wasn't. It was his thoughts that were. I couldn't very well say that. I'd never told him of my telepathy.

"Just because someone is different doesn't mean they're a threat or that they don't belong in the community." I didn't know if I was talking about vampires or myself now. I let out a hard sigh and sunk back down next to him. He handed me my drink which I took from his hand roughly. "And I _am_ happy."

Why did it feel like I was having to justify that to everyone lately? I took a long draw of the cider. It wasn't so much sweet, rather crisp and dry with just enough fizz to make it tasty.

"And what about in the long term?"

Hunter and Roley had lost their stick. Hunter was on all fours alongside the dog, searching under the hedges near the fence looking for a suitable replacement. Roley let out an ecstatic bark when Hunter emerged triumphant, clutching a stick high above his head. The sunlight was low now, bathing them in a glow of orange. Hunter looked like a little conqueror with Roley, his golden-haired steed, by his side.

"Why can't I just be happy in the now?" I asked softly. Why was it so hard for me to find some place to fit in? My whole life... It wasn't just about Eric or my old hang-ups from growing up. I had Hunter to think about. He and I, we were both different. People were beginning to notice with Hunter. I hated to think he'd be a social outcast because of his differences. Or because of who I was seeing romantically.

A buzz and distinct ticking sound cut off my train of thought, and we both looked up to see the fluorescent light above the back step flicker to life.

"Oh my God…What time is it?"

Owen checked his watch. "Six sharp." We grinned stupidly at each other and Owen leaped to his feet with a whoop. The power was finally extended by an hour. "You hungry? We need to celebrate. I've got all the fixings for those caramel dumplings you used to like."

"Sure. Okay, why not." I was still peeved, but this girl was a sucker for dessert.

Hunter helped Owen in the kitchen while I set up the DVD player with an old copy of The Little Rascals. I joined a floury Hunter in the kitchen and we helped wipe the benches down and did the dishes as Owen finished up at the stove. In the living room, Hunter sat on the floor at the coffee table eating his dessert glued to the TV while Owen and I sat beside one another on the couch eating.

TV was still a novelty for Hunter. I had a small one in my room and only a few copies of DVDs I used to enjoy but often I just found myself reading at that time of evening or pottering around the house listening to music. If the power was on now an hour earlier maybe I could shift the little flat screen into the sitting room and get some kid's movies.

I popped the spoon from my mouth and licked the caramel sauce that had run down the handle. "So good." I leaned back on the couch, feeling full and slightly buzzed.

"He doesn't have to be your boyfriend, Sookie. There are other men out there," Owen said suddenly. "I mean, not me. That's not what I meant. Just that … There are other men out there." _Not vampires._

I blinked and put the spoon down. "Not for me there isn't."

"You don't know that."

"I do, Owen." I gave him a small smile. "I really do."

Hunter looked at me from over his shoulder and screwed up his nose. I kept my shields in place, though it took effort when I had a little booze in my system. I took Hunter's look as my cue. In the kitchen, I lifted Hunter up so he could wash his hands in the sink and we thanked Owen for his hospitality.

"He'll never be welcome here, will he?" I said to Owen when we were at the door. Hunter tugged at my hand, excited to get back on his bike. _Hang on just a sec, Hunter,_ I thought at him.

"It's not like that…" Owen trailed off, scuffing his hand through the back of his hair.

"I think it is. Can you imagine if I asked Jessup to find Eric a place to live here?"

Owen shrugged helplessly, and I was reminded all over again why Owen and I would've never worked - aside from the obvious hurdle of my telepathy. He was too wishy-washy and passive. Too accepting of the status quo to ever really be an even match for me. It was a terrible quality to have in a post-plague world. It was a wonder he'd even survived this long. And now, with his obvious prejudice against vampires…? It moved my ex-boyfriend firmly into the 'not friend' category.

Owen bid us goodnight, telling us to call in anytime. I'd barely had time to clip on Hunter's bike helmet before he took off running into the dark street. I wrangled his bike under my arms and walked my own bike down the driveway, mentally calling Hunter to come straight back.

 _Eric!_ he cried in response.

Eric and Hunter emerged from a shadowy driveway across the road, Hunter's hand tightly clasped in Eric's.

"What are you doing here?" I asked leaning up on my toes kiss his cheek. He smelled clean and fresh.

"I could say the same to you," Eric said arching a speculative brow to Owen's house behind me.

"That's not what I meant," I said back. "I mean… I thought you'd gone home."

Hunter began leading Eric up the road, tugging him by the hand. Eric took Hunter's bike from me, easily tucking it under his free arm.

"Is he normally so forward?" He nodded to their joined hands.

"No, well, not to humans. Skin contact with y'all helps to keep things silent up here," I said tapping my temple. Eric and Hunter hadn't spent much time together. At all, really. I'd reintroduced Eric to Hunter at the beginning of Eric's visits, referring to Eric as my friend. They'd spent time with each other only briefly once or twice when Eric arrived before I had put Hunter to bed for the night. Hunter remembered him but I'd really not given him to chance to socialize with Eric, though he wanted to.

In my mind, it was still too early. Way early. I'd heard of single parents not introducing new romantic partners to their children until many months or even a year into a relationship. But that was back then. Back in the old world. The dating pool was about 99.99% larger in those days.

I didn't know what the rule of thumb was with single moms and dating, especially when it came to dating vampires, but my plan was to let my gut lead the way. I wouldn't be repeating any of the mistakes I made trying to force things with Owen. What failure that had been.

Plus, it wasn't hard to establish some distance between Eric and Hunter. Most of the time Eric wouldn't arrive until just before Hunter went to sleep, so there hadn't been much opportunity for them to socialize. That suited me fine for the moment.

"He needs to be more wary of vampires," Eric said in that pragmatic tone of his. Not passing judgment, simply stating what he believed to be fact. "Racing into the dark assuming they're friendly is-"

"Mommy, Eric's going to play blocks in my room when we get home."

"We'll see, hon. You have to get in your jammies and brush your teeth first." I looked back to Eric. "His only contact with vampires is Pam. If that isn't enough to make him wary, I'm not sure what I could say or do to make a difference." I would need to work on it with him, though. It didn't pay to be too trusting these days. I tugged at my ponytail self-consciously. "You've never stayed a second night before…"

"I asked you to consider moving across the country. I thought now was a good time to spend more time together while you consider your options. Although I didn't anticipate you'd be visiting the home of your ex-lover the night after I leave. Is this your usual habit?" He raised a brow and shot me the side-eye.

"I didn't peg you for the jealous type."

"Oh, I'm not jealous." He smirked and let the comment dangle.

"Right. Not jealous. Possessive?"

His grin widened, the tips of his fangs peeking below his top lip. "Of you? Always."

I rolled my eyes at him but didn't bother suppressing my smile. So sue me. What girl doesn't like feeling wanted by her honey?

We rounded the corner onto the man road. The moon hung like a thin sickle high above us dimly illuminating our way.

"So what's on the agenda tonight, then?" I asked. "Are we going to spar?" Since Eric entered my life again he'd taken to giving me self-defense lessons. He'd brought over mats, a small weights bench and a punching bag and decked out my basement. I wasn't really sure who the set up was mostly for … Me, as a means of keeping fit and being able to protect myself if the need called for it, or Eric, as an attempt to deal with the trauma we went through together with Ocella. He never said anything, but I gleaned from our conversations that he hadn't quite got over what transpired between us in that atrium thanks to his maker. He drew relief from helping me become more self-sufficient. To become a fighter. What a pair we made. We both had serious control issues.

I'd never match him in terms of strength, agility or sheer physical skill, but I sure had a few tricks up my sleeve when it came to one-on-one combat now. The plus side was a lot of the time the sparring ended with wrestling… which often ended with more pleasurable pursuits.

"I was hoping to," he said with a nod.

We passed the walk with Hunter filling in the natural lulls of our conversation with his usual stream of consciousness chatter. Eric, like Claude, also heard a detailed description of the new bee-hive amongst many of the conversation topics.

We were kicking off our shoes at the front entrance when I heard Eric's sudden intake of breath behind me.

"You had visitors today…?" he rasped.

I swiveled on the spot. Eric's eyes were dilated, his lips slightly parted and slack. Whoa, nelly. I resisted the urge to gulp and take a step back. The porch light illuminated his silhouette, casting long shadows across his face. He cut a chilling figure. It was easy to forget he was lethal. Except for right now in this very moment.

"Yes," I said and placed a reassuring hand on his chest, trying not to show my spike of fear. His nostrils flared and his eyes took on a hungry sheen. I'd bet my left foot he could smell it. "I didn't think you'd visit tonight so I haven't aired the house. Why don't you meet me on the back porch while I put Hunter to bed?"

He nodded once and zipped from sight, Hunter whooping in excitement at his sudden departure.

"C'mon, buddy," I said, scruffing the boy's hair and internally sighing with relief. "It's teeth brushing time."

In the bathroom, I cleaned Hunter up with a warm washcloth and soap, then perched on the edge of the bath so I could help brush his teeth.

"Mommy, do you have a baby in your tummy?" Hunter asked after he rinsed his mouth and spat into the sink. I froze and slowly returned the toothbrush to the caddy.

"No, honey. Why would you think that?"

"Owen's brain voice in the kitchen. He was thinking about you with a big baby tummy and in a white dress."

My eyes widened and my gaze darted to the bathroom window which was open a crack. Eric was just outside on the porch, no doubt privy to every word right now.

"There's no baby, Hunter. Owen's a friend and we're not even married, so no white dress either." _You know better than to pay attention to what people think in their heads,_ I chided gently.

 _But if we're a family then Roley can live here,_ he pouted.

 _People start families because they love each other, not because they want a dog to live at their house._ I smiled and straightened the collar on his flannel pajamas. _I love you. You love me. It's all the family we need._

"Now, c'mon, the power is about to go off and it's way past your bedtime, mister."

Two bedtime stories later and one bout of tears once he realized he couldn't play blocks, I tucked him in with a kiss.

"Are we a family, Mommy?"

"You better believe it."

"Even though I didn't grow in your tummy?"

I smoothed his hair off his forehead and scooted closer to him.

"Where you come from doesn't make you a family. What counts is what's in here." I touched my fingers to my chest. "I love you in here forever, no matter what. That makes us family. It's an invisible connection. Like a rope between you and me that links us forever." _Claudine, Colman, Claude, Uncle Dermot, Grandfather Niall, they're all your family too,_ I added mentally.

 _Really?_ The realization seemed to strike him with unexpected excitement.

 _Yes, really. Maybe we don't share invisible ropes with them yet, but I bet we will one day._

 _We all have invisible ropes connecting us? That's a lotta ropes, Momma._ His eyes boggled.

 _Kind of._ I chuckled out loud softly. _But we're still getting to know that side of our family. You and me are the real deal, though._

He was asleep in minutes, and I left his room with a little spring in my step, excited that I could make use of the charmed mirror so quickly after Claude installed it. I grabbed the afghan off the couch and wrapped it around my shoulders, meeting Eric outside on the back patio.

I hardly had time to shut the back door behind me before I found myself pressed against the brickwork of the house, my tall toothsome vampire dragging his nose across my neck.

"He's asleep?" His voice rumbled in his chest, a good octave lower than normal.

"Yes," I said, laughing breathily, caught off guard.

"Good." His lifted me up, my legs wrapping around his narrow hips. He pressed himself tightly against me. "Now tell me why you were visiting the home of your former lover." He was practically rubbing himself all over me, but he lifted his head, pinning me in place with the look in his eyes. He sure was right. This wasn't a matter of jealousy. It was all possessiveness. He wanted me all to himself.

"Wouldn't you rather find out why I had my family pop in today for a visit instead?" I ground myself back against him, making his fangs to snap the rest of the way down. "I think you'll like the reason…"

He arched a brow, and I explained to him the fairy charmed mirror delivered by Claude and how it would eliminate my shielding issues in the bedroom. Or outside against the side of the house, as it were.

"He won't be able to hear my mind thanks to the mirror, and as long as I'm touching you, I can relax my shields completely too," I concluded with what I hoped was a seductive smile.

His fingers moved to tug the hem of my shirt up while he kissed a path from my neck to my mouth. "I am extremely pleased, lover. We must test it immediately." His hands moved to my breasts, massaging them appreciatively.

"You don't have to tell me twice," I said before kissing him again, running my tongue against a fang. He groaned in pleasure. He kissed me desperately and with a soft rip, he tore my bra in two, freeing my breasts. I laughed at his pleased expression as he flung the remains of my bra away, and I slid from his waist before my exercise leggings met a similar fate. I shimmied out of the leggings and began tugging at Eric's belt, pulling it undone. With vampire speed, Eric divested himself of his trousers, and I was pressed back up against the house again.

"Now tell me, lover," he growled in my ear, parting my legs with a strong thigh. "Why were you visiting your old boyfriend?"

With another rip, my panties were torn free. They were also tossed. A matching pair with my poor bra.

"Was he trying to woo you again?" He fingers slipping between my thighs, parting my lips. He gently probed me and a shock wave of pleasure rolled through me head to toe. "Trying to warn you against me?"

"No, he…" My words morphed into a breathless moan as he began lightly dipping his finger in and out of me. My breathing ratcheted up in speed as he added another finger, my body responding in kind.

"Does he not realize that you are mine?" he said, fangs scraping the shell of my ear. Oh God, I usually had no patience for any of that possessive crap. But right now it was pressing all the right buttons. "Or did you simply not tell him?" he continued. His fingers his curled inside me and I mewled his name, unable to answer properly, unable to string together a coherent sentence.

"Tell me," he demanded, his tone gravelly and low, his erection pressing and rubbing against my hip.

"He knows… " I managed to respond. My climax loomed, my rapid breathing bordering close to sobs.

"Say it," he growled. Oh god, he sounded so sexy. I clenched tightly around his fingers.

"I'm yours," I whispered. I grasped his hardness, stroking him up and down.

"Yes," he hissed. He lifted me off the ground, raising my thigh. "Again…" he said.

I tugged his hair, pulling him from my neck so I could kiss him deeply. "I'm yours," I moaned against his mouth and his fingers were suddenly replaced with his hard length in a single, confident thrust.

That was it. I was a goner. If he'd asked any more of me, I couldn't tell you. I was lost in the feel of him, the way he filled me. I clung to his shoulders as he rode me hard against the wall. I think he screwed me to another plane of existence, or until my thinking brain was simply forced to shut down and we were just two beings, held captive by the physical expression of our feelings for one another. I clamped my teeth down hard on his shoulder when I came, muffling my cry, stars appearing in my eyes.

My bite took him by surprise. His fangs sank into my shoulder in response, his orgasm chasing quickly after my own. Mine was a big, hitting me like a sledgehammer, and I rode the aftershocks for what felt like minutes, or maybe it was hours, before awareness slowly returned. Eric cradled me gently now, his scratchy cheek nuzzling my neck. I kissed his shoulder, drawing in a small gasp when I realized I'd drawn a little blood.

"I made you bleed," I said. I tasted blood in my mouth, not much, and there were a few drops on his shoulder from where my teeth marks had healed. I kissed them away apologetically.

He chuckled throatily. "My feisty fairy." He vamped us to my bed and pulled the covers over us. I loved this part after sex almost as much as the sex itself. Well. Almost. Eric was cuddly for a vampire, and even for a human, judging by the musings I'd pulled from unsatisfied women over the years. I settled my head in the crook of his shoulder as his fingers stroked the back of my arms.

"Every night," he said after several content minutes passed.

"Hmm?" I responded drowsily. I slung my leg up over his.

"We could enjoy this every night if you came with us."

"Eric…" My tone was warning, but I had to admit that in my current state the idea sounded pretty darn good. I could handle spending every evening post-orgasmic and boneless.

"Sookie."

I propped myself up on one elbow and looked down at him. "Don't push me on this," I said.

"I'm not." Eyebrow quirked. "I'm simply pointing out a fact."

"No, you're not. There's nothing simple about it! You're trying to sway me. This is a big decision, Eric. I have a son to think about. Don't force my hand, or you won't like the answer."

"Is this what you wish instead? To not speak of it at all? Pretend this isn't happening?" His lips settled into a firm line. I went to interject but he cut me off with an annoyed wave of his hand. "So I ask you once and then I must await your permission to bring it up again. What's my alternative? That I force the issue and receive an upsetting ultimatum? This is a decision that requires discussion."

I narrowed my eyes at him and rolled out of bed, walking over to the window. I drew back the filmy sheer curtains and pulled the window shut. Eau De Fairy had well and truly worn off. I turned back around and perched on the window frame, still naked as a jaybird. I'd become comfortable, bold even, in his presence. We stared at one another for a long moment.

"Give me a week," I said finally. My stomach churned at the thought of the conversation, even as a hypothetical. Urgh. Why couldn't things just be simple? Why did Pam decide now was the time to leave? Couldn't she have waited until Eric and I were at a more solid point in our relationship? I rubbed my forehead and closed my eyes. I wanted to pout, but I wasn't being exactly fair. Her life choices weren't dependent on the state of my relationship with Eric. Unfortunately, it was beginning to look like the opposite might be true. "I need a week to wrap my head around this idea. I'll have questions, and I need to consider this from different angles. Then we can talk."

When I opened my eyes Eric was regarding me with a satisfied look, his eyes trailing down my naked form. It occurred to me that this was exactly the way he intended this conversation to go. Wanting to simply get me to agree to talk about it. And I walked myself right into his honey pot. Damned tricky vampire.

"Don't look so pleased with yourself," I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

He grinned broadly. "If I appear pleased, it is only because my beautiful woman is standing before me naked and thoroughly ravished; my seed running down the inside of her shapely thigh."

I gasped and my face immediately blazed red.

"You know, it's not too late for me to rescind your invitation!" I called over my shoulder as I darted from the room and straight to the bathroom. His hearty laugh followed me all the way down the corridor.

Thank goodness Hunter was a heavy sleeper. And thank goodness I had a chance to kick his ass down in the basement as soon as I was done getting clean.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The next day was unusually warm, the breeze carrying the scent of nearby dogwood blossoms, and the sun expelling the chill from the air as soon as it lifted in the sky. Hunter and I got started a little later than usual, the both of us sleeping in. What an unexpected treat that was.

Usually, my sleepy, unshielded thoughts would wake Hunter early morning or vice versa… Joys of living with a telepath. We rode our bikes side-by-side into town together and picked up Abby on our way through. Bec was working the day at the health clinic and it meant Abby was in our care for today. I let the two ride on ahead, Hunter had to pedal up on his feet just to keep up with Abby, who was riding a ridiculously bright pink bike with purple streamers and a bejeweled bell.

River Rock was yet to have its own fully practicing doctor but with the population at 500, we had managed to acquire Lotte (a veterinarian who'd emigrated to the US from the Netherlands a decade earlier) and not one but two individuals who had been medical students in the old world. One student, Rashid, had been a registrar on his second residency when the plague hit, and Deborah, she'd been a former 3rd year medical student.

It came down to statistics, rather than luck. Once the town's populace got to so many, you were bound to get some folk with medical training. No, our health care wasn't perfect, there had been deaths in the time that had passed since River Rock reestablished itself - I mean just look at the close call with my leg - but the town got by okay. We were certainly better off than most. Bec was an asset to the town, without a doubt. I bet if Bec lived in River Rock when I first injured my leg, I never would have let it get it infected, never would have developed sepsis, never would have met Eric. That thought pulled me up... Not meeting Eric had chilling implications of its own. It meant I would have faced Ocella on my own when he passed through town with Alexei. I shook off the unpleasant feeling. Some stones were better left unturned.

I took the kids back home and we spent the day in the sun, digging rows in my large veggie patch, planting a few of the seedlings Hunter and I had coaxed to life in the hot house some weeks earlier. Strawberries, zucchinis, a number of different leafy greens and beets. I didn't think the strawberries would survive past planting but no matter, we had fun getting our fingers dirty. My orange seedings were coming along nicely, they'd been re-potted a few weeks earlier into bigger tubs and now sat outside in the sun. I gave the kids each a watering can and let them walk up and down the rows, watering as they went.

After, I set up the sprinkler on the lawn, stripped the muddy kids off and let them run through the spray while the sun was still shining brightly. I sat outside the splash zone watching contentedly; they ran through the water and then turned and immediately ran the other away from the cold spray, squealing at the top of their lungs. My heart tugged… This felt like home. This garden, the laughter and sunshine, the white sheets on the washing line billowing in the breeze, my little seedlings planted in their rows… the ones waiting for me in the hothouse. I didn't know if I could leave this behind.

I brought the kids in when they began shivering.

I half expected Eric to show up again that evening and then again on the Tuesday, as per his usual routine. Instead, he gave me the full week and an extra day to stew on it alone.

* * *

Four days before our big scheduled talk, I headed down to the swap meet. It was held every two weeks in a vacant hall next to the large sport field in the middle of town. Hunter dashed off to the field as soon as we arrived and joined in with the soccer game two other kids were playing. I smiled a little as I heard a chorus of 'Hi, Hunter!' from the boys. He was only little and already more accepted that I'd ever been as a child.

I was early, so I helped old Mary Wright open up the community hall, the two of us setting up the foldout tables side-by-side while she chatted on cheerily about the weather and gossiping about townsfolk. It felt eerily like Bon Temps, and Mrs. Wright, formidable and impressive in her persistence after the great death, reminded me of Gran. She endured proudly, made no fuss of hard work and loved to gossip.

People were slowly trickling in with their wares and setting up, all greeting me with the same polite wariness I was sadly growing accustomed to. Mrs. Wright brushed past me as she tottered over to the windows, opening them wider. My mental shields faltered upon contact and her thoughts broadcasted loudly.

 _Sweet girl, shame she's a fang-loving harlot. When the heck will Jessup up and do something about her? Her loose legs will be the end of this town._

I gripped the edge of the table, the cotton tablecloth bunching under my fingers.

"What's wrong with you, girl?" she asked, giving me the same odd look I'd seen over and over again in my relatively short life. My lips stretched even higher. Damn that stupid smile of mine. God, I couldn't wipe it off my face to save myself.

 _Somethin' ain't right about her. Wouldn't be surprised if she was crazy._

My chest ached. No…

"Nothing's wrong, ma'am," I said once I managed to find my voice. "Just excited to try and get myself a jar of that apple butter Linda's been bragging about."

Old Mary nodded and moved along, the tenor of her thoughts also moving on as she shuffled to the stalls at the front. She apparently didn't like the way Otis and Shauna were choosing to display their items.

The fleeting nature of her thoughts wasn't all that unusual; it was how most folk thought unless they were consumed in some task or working over some big problem in their head. For most people, their minds moved seamlessly through observations, memories, plans, and introspections, sometimes all within the space of a minute. Her thoughts about me weren't callous, it wasn't intended to be rude. She simply made an observation and moved on. An observation that I was crazy.

But it was its fleeting nature, her easy acceptance of that notion. I'd be lying if I said it didn't hurt.

I sighed and began unpacking all the goods for my stall. A number of large containers of veggie soup, jars of basil pesto made from the abundance of basil growing in my garden, a number of jars of herbed goat's cheese I'd made earlier in the week, and large bunches of assorted greens I'd harvested that morning.

Stop it, I sternly told my trembling hands, there's no need to shake like that.

I managed to swap everything over the course of the next hour and loaded up my little wagon, wheeling it back outside. I crossed the street, leaning against a utility pole next to the field, and watched the kids. They'd now grown to a sizable crew, as they played a slapdash game of soccer. It didn't seem to have any hard or fast rules. One of the older girls, a raven haired teen by the name of Grace, jogged between the players as she piggy-backed Hunter. He was grinning like a loon and yelling out orders to one of his teammates, though I could tell by the way he was screwing his nose he was also busy keeping his shields in place.

My eyes teared over, my heart swelling. What a good boy he was. A good, accepted boy.

* * *

The next day, I arrived home from a morning shift on the farm with Hunter in tow. Claude and Dermot were waiting for me, basking in the sun on the front porch.

"Dearest neice," Dermot said, rising to his feet and pressing a warm kiss to both cheeks. In one hand he held a half-peeled apple, the skin curling around and down in a long ringlet. Hunter pushed past me for a quick cuddle with both fairies before gleefully taking the curly piece of apple skin to munch on. I fumbled around with my box of produce I was carrying and opened the front door.

"You didn't let yourself in?" I asked, kicking my boots off in the entry way. I shot Claude a pointed look over my shoulder and he simply smirked in response. I kept it unlocked most of the time. Claude was carrying his own box of produce for us, so I couldn't exactly say his presence was unwelcome.

"We weren't waiting long," Dermot cheerfully replied and when we got into the kitchen, he flung open French doors at the back to let in more light. "That's better," he declared. "Now let me help you with lunch."

Claude placed his box down on the counter and helped himself to an apple from the top. "He's here because he wants to know if the mirror helped you," he announced, leaning against the counter and taking a big bite.

I froze, a spaghetti squash in either hand and looked from Claude to Dermot, wide-eyed. Dermot regarded Claude with irritation and shook his head. "We are also here to help around your home."

"Well, okay… But I don't need help." And my face couldn't turn any redder if it tried.

"There's no shame in enjoying a great cock, Sookie," Claude said and wandered out the back towards the sandbox where Hunter had disappeared to.

"Good grief," I muttered and began putting away the morning's harvest. In addition to the vegetables, I'd managed to work enough on the fields to earn several pounds of flour. It meant eggs with biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Wahoo.

"Well, he's right. But that isn't why I'm here," Dermot said. "I brought you a gift, it's out back. We'll have lunch and take a look."

I spread out Gran's old afghan on the lawn and we ate lunch in the back yard, the goat watching on from its enclosure in part curiosity, part disdain. Reminded me a lot of Claude, actually. After lunch, the four of us stood at the side of my home, looking at the large plastic wrapped panels and multitude of cardboard boxes in various shapes.

"What is it?" Hunter asked. Well, I was certainly glad he was the one to ask.

"Solar panels," Dermot said. "For your hot water system, neice. Might be enough left-over juice to power a fridge all day too. Certainly through summer, at least. I thought Claude could help keep Hunter occupied while we get climbing and do some installation."

"You're kidding!" Excitement sprung to life inside me. A few people in town had these but those systems were all installed pre-plague. After those few hot showers at the vampire compound on Jupiter Island, I'd never really expected to enjoy proper hot showers ever again. Or chilled food. I did have a small solar powered cooler but it was tiny. Only really enough for goat's milk and cheese.

"Hot showers. No kidding. I've heard you tell Claudine how much you miss them."

My eyes grew even wider, I was sure they'd pop out of my head. I couldn't believe it was actually happening.

"She likes it!" Hunter declared.

"She's having a stroke," Claude said.

"Where did you find this?" I asked incredulously and kneeled beside the closest panel, peeling back the plastic cover. I stroked the panel gently, reverently. It gleamed in the bright sunshine, smooth and black.

"Shreveport," Dermot said, chuckling. "Claude and I popped the boxes over here earlier this afternoon."

I was tempted to hug the panel but hugged Dermot instead, practically squeezing the breath from him. I couldn't instill any fairy warmth into him like others in my family, but this was the best I could do. He hugged me back, his head tilting towards my shoulder as he scented me.

My cheeks were blazing when we parted and he gave me a knowing smile. I was sure he'd scented Eric's blood in me, even in its minute quantity.

Claude and Hunter set themselves up in the sandbox, Claude filling up the water play-table beside it. They got to work digging channels to make a river while Dermot brought the ladder around from the garage. I grabbed my tools and a broad sunhat. Dermot laughed as I leaped up and caught the gutter, pulling myself up onto the roof. He climbed the ladder.

We scrabbled over the roof, above where the hot water heater was located inside the house and got to work planning where to install the rails that would house the panels. I was nervous. It was a fiddly task. We spoke at length, planning how the wiring would run through the house.

We climbed back down and spent the afternoon fiddling around with building the manifold frame that the panels would be affixed to. Dermot, for all his thoughtfulness, wasn't nearly as handy as I hoped he'd be. It was slow progress trying to make heads or tails of the nearly incomprehensible instructions, so by the time evening rolled around we'd only managed to get as far as building the two frames.

"I'll help you with the rest tomorrow," Dermot said.

"You've done enough. I'm happy to do the rest." I badly wanted to thank him but that was fairy faux pas, according to Claudine. "I'm grateful for everything that you've done. Including procuring the mirror for me."

Dermot nodded knowingly and told me to mention nothing of it, his tone pleased.

"How's Claudine doing?" I asked once we descended the roof onto solid ground.

"Fine. Her time is growing near." He smiled brightly, though it was hard to miss the concern dimming his expression. "She asked you to visit later in the week and help with the finishing touches on her nursery." I agreed enthusiastically and we set a time for him to pop over and grab Hunter and myself.

The power was on by the time we finished hauling all the unopened boxes back into the garage and away from the elements. When we got inside, Hunter was sprawled on the couch watching TV and Claude was somewhere down the hall. I found him in the bathroom, washing his hands in the sink although clearly he was covering for whatever else he'd been doing. Snooping, no doubt.

"You won't find it," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "And it's not yours to have."

We regarded each other coolly in the reflection of the mirror and he shut off the running faucet.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Oh, please. Give me a break. You think I can't tell you're here hanging around trying to sniff out Fintan's gift?"

"So? You don't deserve it." He flicked the water from his hands into the sink and dried his hands on the towel.

"I couldn't give a flying fig what you think I do or don't deserve. Fact is, it's mine."

"Do you understand how rare they are? What a gift you have? It's like winning the lottery. Some would wage wars to acquire such a thing. Others would kill."

He moved to push past me but I blocked him, standing widespread across the doorway. "Are you threatening me?"

"No." His nostrils flared and he folded his arms like a petulant child.

"Then what the fuck is your deal?" I felt possessive of the trinket. It was mine. It was left for me! It was a connection from Gran; from a part of her life she'd never shared with me… And, truthfully, there was also a more visceral aspect to it too. It was a fairy token. Its draw was undeniable. I simply didn't want to give it up. It didn't want me to. I wanted it as much as I was too scared to ever use it.

"I don't have a 'deal'," he said finally, his dark hair brushing down past his shoulders as he cocked his head to the side. "I see an advantage then I take it."

"It's not your advantage to take," I snarled. "I allow you into my home - as a guest. My son adores you. But I'm sick of your disrespectful fairy bullshit, Claude. If it weren't for Claudine, I would've told you where to go long ago."

Claude laughed humorlessly at the mention of his sister. "Just don't waste it, Sookie. Otherwise the regret will eat you away for the rest of your life." He knocked my shoulder hard as he bumped past me out of the bathroom.

* * *

I spent two frustrating days climbing up and down off the roof and messing with the wiring trying to get the new hot water system connected. Word spread around town, like it often did, and Nick the engineer visited one morning, tool kit in tow along with an offer to help. But I was too far down the rabbit hole and sent him away as politely as I could. It was a matter of pride, I think. I needed to do it myself. I provided for Hunter, I provided for myself, I would work out this damned solar hot water system on my own!

Later that evening, I sat under the light of the back porch, the pieces spread around me. I had built and installed the main frame which the solar panels sat upon, assembled the panels that connected to said frame. I'd installed the wiring box too – drilling to the brickwork nearest to the heater, the insulated piping was next and then-

"What are you doing?"

I screamed and dropped the manual and bracket pieces I was holding.

"What in the world, Pam!? Why you gotta sneak up on a girl like that?!"

She snickered. "It's amusing. Not often that one can sneak up on a telepath." She squatted next to where I was sitting and, as usual, looked unruffled and perfectly put together. Even after having run hundreds of miles to visit me. Unbelievable. I didn't think I'd ever get over how incredible vampires were.

"What is… all this?" She gestured to the items strewn everywhere.

"My own personal hell," I grumbled. I collected the pieces of bracket I'd dropped and placed them back into the plastic baggie I'd ripped them out of.

Pam leaned over and retrieved the manual. "Ah. Finally fixing your hot water."

"Cheese and rice, does everyone about my bathing preferences?"

"I have memories of you from Florida that I will never forget," she said with a leer. "I come baring gifts also. A going away gift, so to speak."

"You realize that technically I should be the one to give you a gift, right?"

She smiled and shrugged, reached into her coat and retrieved a small brown-paper parcel. I thanked her and unwrapped it. Inside with a small sewing kit, it included a large collection of dainty snap-fastener buttons.

"Thank you," I said, not really understanding.

"It's to upgrade your current lingerie collection. From what I hear, your panties and bras have a habit of tearing quite unexpectedly." She laughed at my mortified expression. "Now you can upgrade them so they easily unclip. Saves them meeting an untimely fate."

"Oh, Pam," I said and I laughed. This was just the sort of gift I expected her to give. I hugged her, much to her chagrin. She clasped my hand as we parted and tutted, turning it over this way and that.

"What have you done to your hands, my friend? Your nails are abominable."

I rolled my eyes, extricating my hand from the clasp of her cool one and resumed packing up. "Well, if you wanna give me a manicure I ain't gonna complain."

Half an hour later, we were sitting at the garden table in the backyard, both our hands soaking in small baths of sweetly fragranced rose water. I pondered the bowl of water quietly, watching as small bubbles formed and rose from my fingers. This evening was wistfully reminiscent of the first time she visited me at River Rock after everything had gone down with Alexei and Ocella.

"So you're ditching me then?" I said, when she lifted her hands from the bowl and dried them on the hand towel I'd placed between us.

"So you're gonna be chicken and stay behind?" she shot back. Her droll expression dared me to say it wasn't so. I huffed and returned my attention to my fingers.

"Well, I don't see what the hurry is."

"There is no hurry." She didn't elaborate, apparently deeming it explanation enough, until I stared at her balefully. "Fine." She sighed in a put-upon way, tossing the towel back between us. "If you must know, I was ready to leave Atlanta when I first visited you here at your home. I was sick of Eric lingering around Atlanta like a dark cloud. He refused to visit you, though you were clearly the reason he insisted on staying. So I decided to see if I could hurry things along, as it were. I came to visit you."

Huh. Wingman Pam. Wingwoman. Wingvamp?

"Then I found I liked you beyond your physical attributes," she continued her eyes wandering as far south as my chest region. I snorted. Figured. "Yes," she agreed, her lips curling into a slight smile. "You can imagine my surprise. I've never had a human friend, beyond a companion that sees to my needs. I find it…" She looked out to the garden, as if searching for the right word. "Surprisingly enjoyable. I like our sense of female kinship and camaraderie."

"But, Pam, that was–" I thought back. She couldn't have waited that long, could she? "That was six months ago. You've hung around that long just to be my friend?" It was extremely touching, though I didn't dare let on to Pam, who was generally as emotional as a frozen fish.

Pam didn't answer and flicked open her zip up mani-case, passing me a nail-polish; a nude blush pink named Let Me Bayou a Drink. In ordinary circumstances this would've earned a chuckle from me, but instead I sighed. I was tired and didn't really feel like pulling fangs to get responses or information out of her. I dried my hands and let her do her work on my finger nails.

"He cares for you deeply," she said quietly, eyes focused on her task. "He will never admit it, but I sense his feelings for you."

My breath, my thoughts, they stilled. But was it love? Or was it something close to love? Was something like that even possible for him?

"You will be safe with him," she continued.

"Pam," I said softly. She lifted her head. I struggled for the right words. What did I want to ask? What did I even want to know? And would I really want to know…? She held my gaze evenly before nodding slightly.

"Vampires are not capable of love. Not in the way a human expects."

It wasn't easy to hear, but I steeled myself and nodded. I realized then that the depth of his feelings for me wasn't actually the most pressing issue. I cast the knowledge aside for the time being. "That's not what I'm afraid of," I said quietly. A heartbreak I could cope with. Uprooting my life and having Hunter suffer as a result, that I couldn't.

"The boy?"

I nodded.

"You're wise to choose carefully. A tough decision. But don't be afraid of the move. You'll have us for backup." She flashed a grin at me, her fangs snapping out and back so quickly I couldn't be sure I'd even seen them. "And once on the West Coast we will not abandon you. Eric may be wily and ruthless, but he is loyal when it counts."

I let out a slow breath of relief I hadn't been realizing I was holding. I knew Eric to be loyal, but hearing it from Pam solidified the notion the way speaking such things out loud seemed to do.

"How long before he returns, do you think?" It was a long way to travel from South Carolina to California and back. I wasn't even sure how it would work for vampires. Would he fly Pam to the community? Fly back again? Would he be capable of such a long trip? Dang it. I had so many questions, for every one there chased another ten quickly on its tail. I needed to get a notebook and write them all down.

"Some months, perhaps," she answered. "We're driving. It's hard to know what it will be like down there. He'll want to make sure I'm safely established before returning to you." She waved a hand over my drying nails and set about picking her own color. At vamp speed, manicures took less than a minute or two.

Months… I tried to picture waiting that long without him. I could handle it. My libido might be in for a shock, but life post-plague was busy and the days would slip by. Hunter and I had the community around us. My thoughts wandered to old Mary and her opinion of me. I sighed. I guess I had the community as much as I could ever hope to.

Pam picked a startling shade of deep red and began on her own nails. I leaned back in my wicker seat, propping my feet on the chair beside Pam. The night was calm, barely a whispered breath of wind. The crickets were out in full-force. Summer was looming. I could taste it. It reminded me of evenings on the porch swing seat in Bon Temps with Gran by my side.

Never in a million years would I have pictured the path in which life had taken me.

It wasn't that I was surprised at Eric's depth of care for me. It caught me off guard more than anything. I was a realist. And love was never meant to be a possibility for me. Before the great death, I'd come to terms with that. And in the new world it wasn't even a consideration, beyond my misguided attempt with Owen. Survival came first. Hunter came first. And then with Eric… I stared unfocused into the night sky.

With Eric it felt like I needed to pinch myself. Like I had to take each moment as it came because it wasn't meant for me. Love and relationships were never meant to be on the cards for me. And at some point, we'd be done and that would be that. There was inevitability in that. I aged and he didn't. He'd live and I wouldn't. Maybe that lay at the heart of my caginess about this whole thing.

I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to plan a future with him. It was just so much easier to handle living in the moment. Because the moments would all soon be done, and all I'd be left with was the memory of them and the gratefulness that I got to experience them to begin with.

"What should I expect of Eric?" When I finally looked across to Pam, I saw she'd finished her nails and had been waiting patiently for me to speak.

"Monogamy isn't natural for vampires," she stated flatly.

I blinked. I wasn't exactly sure what I'd been asking but it sure as heck hadn't been that. "Well he's monogamous for me."

Her mouth turned down in distaste. "More reason for you to join us. You don't consider how he'll suffer without having a release. And I have no interest in straying from the fairer sex to tend to his needs."

The flash of jealousy that ran through me was hot and startling. "No."

Her eyes took on a dark, satisfied sheen, and she crossed her legs at the knee. "We do have to take donors with us."

The jealousy settled into a sick, heavy lump in my stomach. "Please don't tell me more."

"Not knowing doesn't mean it ceases to occur, Sookie. Arousal is a natural part of feeding. It's unnatural for a vampire to neglect that aspect of their physiology. Particularly when feeding."

I thought of those nights when Eric and I traveled cross-country north from Florida. "You know what, Pam?" I said finally, carefully. "I think this conversation is none of your business."

She laughed and deftly shifted the conversation onto lighter topics. We embraced tightly when she left, my vision misty and her eyes sheened with red. We were truly different creatures, her and I, but she was a true friend. Pam brushed a kiss to my cheek and zipped from sight. Not one for a protracted goodbye, much like her maker.

I stood on the porch and drew a deep sigh. Then I spent over an hour in my basement letting out my frustrations on the punching bag.

* * *

 **A/N** Thanks for being so patient! I have everything written, just finalizing the final chapter to this little story (it finishes with Chapter 8). I'll post each chapter within a few days of one another; since it's been so long, there's no need to stagger chapters a week apart.

Let me know if I need to be including a summary of what's happened so far? Or... it's a good excuse to reread this series from the beginning. ;-)

ALSO: Just a head's up, I've changed my username on ffn (from lolli bolli ) to SmokeAndEmber so that it is in line with my A03 account. Hope that doesn't confuse too many folks!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Eric came for me two nights later. One moment I was lying in bed, alone and reading by candlelight, and the next I had a 6'3 vampire lying beside me playing footsies. I dropped my book in surprise onto my lap and laughed. The sound was warm and unexpected after the many nights I'd spent brooding since his last visit. His familiar face was a welcome sight. He grinned and pulled me close to him, his body chilled from the cool wind. His lips were even cooler.

"Hey now!" I protested batting him away. "You're all buggy and these are clean sheets." I made a show of picking a may fly out of his hair and presenting it to him.

"I've missed you too, lover. Join me in the shower?" he replied, not missing a beat.

"I've showered, thank you." And blow-dried my hair. I had no interest in getting wet again. "And past experience tells me that showering with you leaves us both cold and no cleaner than we started."

He disappeared into the bathroom, and I got out of bed to toss the fly out the window. The day had been spectacularly warm, and the mosquitoes were out in force. I secured the fly screen and left the window open. I wanted the fresh air and the only bloodsucker I required was in the bathroom, singing to himself in the shower.

He practically jumped me when he reemerged, and I responded greedily. I'd missed him fiercely and hated where we'd left things the week before. It seemed he felt similarly.

"Your taste… Your smell. I've missed all of you," he said, peeling my nightgown away from me. His mouth gravitated toward my left breast, his free hand to my right.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking. How are you?" I said with a breathy laugh. He propped himself up on his elbows to grin at me.

"How do you think I am?" His fangs were already extended, and his eyes bright and shining.

"You look like a vampire with an itch he just can't wait to scratch."

He leaned forward slightly and kissed me softly on the lips. "I'm not certain that itch will ever go away, Sookie," he murmured. My breath caught in my throat. I cradled his face with my hands and kissed him back.

He moved down my body to settled between my open thighs. He was still slightly damp from the shower, the temperature difference between his cool body and the hot night both delicious and overwhelming. I seriously questioned my ability to ever find my fill with this fine man. I writhed against the sheets, grasping them in my fists as he pleasured me. My climax loomed just within reach. So close… So sweet… I could almost taste it.

 _Pop._

I looked up and screamed.

Claude stood beside the bed. His hands and clothes absolutely drenched with blood. Eric flew from his positions and slammed Claude against the wall in an instant, snarling ferociously.

"Sookie!" Claude cried. His eyes were wide and haunted, the whites startlingly bright.

"What are you doing here," I shrieked. I dragged the sheet up over me.

"Claudine," he said in a strangled cry from under Eric's weight.

"Oh my god! Eric, drop him!" I jumped to my feet and pulled on the nightgown. It was inside out and back-to-front; I hardly noticed. I grabbed at Eric's shoulder, who didn't – or couldn't – hear me. "Drop him, Eric! Now!" I slapped his cheek, he turned his head toward me sluggishly. He was panting, his eyes dark and inhuman. "Stop breathing, you big oaf!" I shouted at him and shook his hold free of Claude.

Claude grabbed my hands, coating them in blood. "Claudine," he said, letting out a sob.

"What do you mean? What's wrong?" She was fine. She had to be fine! I'd only seen her two days earlier. She'd shown me the nursery and I'd helped rearrange the furniture until we decided it looked just right. We'd walked the forest outside my old farmhouse in Bon Temps. She'd been glowing with health. Happy.

"The babies… She's in labor. She's bleeding, Sookie. It's bad. I can't—" he swallowed. "I can't ask you—" He clutched his throat, leaving a bloody smear on his neck. Eric made a move for him again, and I pushed him away.

"You can't ask me, what?" I said. His expression was one of pure pain and agony. It clicked. Oh, no. He physically was prevented from asking me. Fucking fairies! "Oh my god!" I pushed past them both, running to the spare room.

In the dark, I dragged the dresser aside and, in a blind panic, spun on the spot. Where was the hammer? I ran back to the kitchen, practically barreling into Eric in the hallway, who was looking somewhat confused and holding a candle. "Get out of my way!" I cried. I grabbed the hammer from the junk drawer and returned to the spare room. My hands fumbled with the edge of the carpet and I tore it back, and I struggled with the hammer trying to get the nails from out of the loose floorboard. Eric, still naked, knelt beside me and ripped out the floorboard with his bare hands.

"What's going on?" he said. He sounded and looked much more clear-headed. Thank the Lord. I grabbed the Tupperware container from its hidey-hole, popped the lid and retrieved the cluviel dor from its velvet pouch. He stared at it in bewilderment. "That's yours?"

"I need you to look after Hunter. I don't know when I'll be back. Tonight, or –" I looked to Claude at the doorway, who was crying and urging me to hurry. "Or maybe tomorrow. If it gets close to dawn take Hunter to Bec's, she'll look after him till I'm home."

I didn't wait for an answer. I strode to Claude and took his hand. We popped straight to Bon Temps and into the bedroom that had once been Gran's but was now Claudine and Colman's.

The smell hit me like a brick to the face. Strong, metallic, sickly blood.

Claudine lay on the bed, unconscious and ungodly pale. A woman in a sage green dress, who I assumed to be her midwife, was positioned between her legs, covered in much more blood than Claude. The sheets were soaked with it. Colman was to her right, both monitoring Claudine's pulse with his finger and listening to her heart with a stethoscope. I rushed to Claudine's other side.

Then I heard the wailing.

Niall was by the window pacing, holding a crying infant wrapped in muslin. He looked at me equal parts stricken and angry. He turned to Claude, "You disobeyed a direct order of your sworn prince. It was not yours to request." Claude began to argue back, but I ignored them both. Dermot stood between the two, arms outstretched, trying to mediate.

"The babies are born?" I asked. I took Claudine's limp hand in mine. It felt clammy and cool.

"Only one child has been delivered," said the woman, her expression grave. "The second is partway through but stuck. He's bigger. Footling breech. She's lost a significant amount of blood."

"Is she alive?" I felt for a pulse in her wrist.

"I'm monitoring her," Colman said. "She's growing weaker."

"She won't be for long," the woman said. "Neither will the babe, at this rate. I'm trying to stretch her cervix to allow him safe passage, but he's stuck at the neck. There's a danger with the cord. If it compresses at her cervix where he's stuck, it'll stop blood flow to him. But in her current state..." I blanched. In her current state the blood flow may stop regardless. As she spoke, Colman looked over at me from across the bed with an expression so grim and void of hope it was as if my insides had been scooped out.

I'd seen that expression many times on the faces of others in the final weeks before the great death had finished running its course. I'd seen it on my own face back then, every time I had looked in the mirror. It never got any easier to witness.

Colman turned suddenly to the arguing trio and said, "My beloved lies before us dying, and you three are squabbling over sacred laws. Cease your tongues so that the midwife may focus on her work!"

This shut them up.

"Tell me what to do," I said to Niall. "I don't know what to say." I let go of Claudine's hand to remove the cluviel dor from its pouch. The midwife gasped.

"I cannot," Niall said. He rocked the squalling infant as he spoke, gently patting its back. "The magic in your possession…" he trailed off.

"I get it," I said. "It's tricky."

He shook his head slowly. "It cannot be used by request. It won't work. In fact, by the very nature of its power, others are unable to ask you to use it for them."

"That's why Claude couldn't physically ask me before," I said. Niall nodded. I looked at Claude, "Is this why…?"

"It is a token of love. Given selflessly as an act of love, the object's fulfillment must also be an act of love. Not at the request or behest of others," Claude said bitterly. "It's a safeguard woven into its magic, it's to prevent the wish from corruption. You must use it freely, not because it is asked or begged of you." I suppose, despite its many failsafes, the cluviel dor couldn't safeguard itself from being stolen.

I stared down at Claudine's face. She'd warned me, way back when we first found it, how important it was for me to word my wish carefully. Tears sprang to my eyes. The small jade colored trinket suddenly felt like it weighed a million pounds. And now how would I know if I was using it of my own free will?

"I can't feel a pulse," Colman said quietly.

With a sob, I wrapped both mine and Claudine's hand around the cluviel dor and closed my eyes. I didn't know what it was that I needed to say to prevent the wish backfiring. I had no sudden stroke of ingenuity. All I knew was that I loved what little family I had. I would do anything for them… All I knew was that after so much death, all I wanted to enjoy the exact opposite. More life. No more unfair deaths. "Please…" I pressed my lips against her hand. "Please, I just want us all to live."

Nothing happened. No great flash of light. No shuddering change in the air. No loud burst of sound. Just nothing. I dropped my head against our joined hands and cried.

 _It didn't work._

"I've got him!" cried the midwife. Another loud squall filled the room, and I snapped my head up to see. She lifted the baby free from Claudine. He squirmed, his face screwed tight, clearly unhappy with his sudden change of habitat. "Quickly!" she cried. I jumped to my feet and kneeled beside the midwife. The midwife passed him to me, cord still attached. She checked his airways before quickly covering him in muslin, tucking him against me. The baby writhed and squirmed, fists clenched, his face quickly reddening.

"Claudine," Colman said, his voice cracking. He folded over her chest and sobbed, burying his face against her neck.

"She's no longer bleeding," the midwife said.

"Is that a good or bad?" demanded Claude. "Does she live?"

"Look," I said. "The cluviel dor. It's changed color." It sat still in her open palm. Once a rich jade, the cluviel dor was now a dull pale green, the shade not too dissimilar from the midwife's dress.

Claudine's hand twitched then, the tips of her fingers brushing against its smooth face.

The midwife, as if propelled by some unseen force, moved around me to Claudine's side and began checking her vitals. We watched on anxiously, all of us holding our collective breaths. A moment later the midwife reached across to Colman, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Your wife lives."

* * *

Later, the four of us, Dermot, Claude, myself and Niall, sat at the kitchen table, sharing pot of chamomile tea on Gran's best tea service. Hardly a word was spoken. The night was and had been quite the surreal experience.

The midwife and, a shocked and joyful, Colman were still attending to Claudine and the babies in the bedroom. A boy and a girl. Both in perfect health. Claudine had awoken without incident too and was spending time with both babes skin-to-skin. Apparently, this was beneficial to both mother and the babies. She hadn't spoken when she'd first opened her eyes, instead her gaze fell immediately onto the babies tucked securely against her chest and she'd wept.

"How's the solar hot water?" asked Dermot conversationally. I couldn't help it, I cracked up. Big side-splitting laughs.

"You don't even wanna know," I said, wiping away tears.

"Why not ask your boytoy to install it?" said Claude.

"Because." I said this in lieu of an answer. "And I'm pretty sure he'd object to being called a boy and a toy."

Niall, who was in great spirits, found this enormously amusing. "No, I can't imagine he would like that at all."

I wanted to wait to see Claudine before I left for River Rock. After we finished our tea, I curled up in the armchair in the sitting room to rest, and when I next opened my eyes it was morning. Someone had thoughtfully placed a blanket over me in the night and left a dressing gown on the coffee table beside me. Despite my awkward sleeping position, I felt fully revived.

I yawned and stretched out. I was still in my soiled nightgown from the night before, but I had spare clothes in the guest bedroom. I'd just have to wait till everyone was awake to bathe and dress. I wrapped myself in the gown and shuffled into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.

I wondered how Eric's night had been. I suppose a part of me should've been concerned that I'd left a naked, hungry vampire alone in the house with my son, but I trusted him. And I hadn't even realized the extent to which I trusted him until now. I hadn't a second thought about leaving Hunter in his care. I just knew he'd be safe. That certainly put a pep in my step. It signaled I was moving on from the trauma of Ocella's attack. I was sure it had deeper significance too, but it was early, I hadn't had my caffeine fix yet, and there were other more pressing concerns to think about.

I made a big breakfast of eggs, biscuits, potato hash and gravy, with a large platter of sliced fruit. The tempting smells had fairies rising and making their way into the kitchen. I put together a plate for Claudine. I knocked gently on her door and delivered her meal.

"Sookie," she said and beamed. She appeared tired, but in good color and good spirits. My eyes watered, and I placed her breakfast on the nightstand. I was so happy, for her, for myself, for everyone.

She was in the middle of feeding, so I helped prop her up a little with pillows, while Colman dutifully began cutting her breakfast into bite-sized pieces so she that could feed herself using only her free hand. It was touching. I wondered if Eric would do the same for me and quickly decided he would.

"The babies are beautiful," I said, reaching out to stroke the back of the little girl's hand as she fed contentedly. She was dressed in a pale-yellow outfit dotted with white flowers. The other was fussing in the bassinet beside the bed, awaiting his turn to feed.

"We decided on names," Claudine said. "Fintan and Adele. Without them and their love, the cluviel dor would never have existed." She reached out and grabbed my hand tightly. "And without you, Sookie? None of this would have been possible for me. I can't thank you enough. I hope you know how much I love and cherish you."

"We wish for you to be their godmother," Colman said. "Well, their Earth-bound godmother."

I wept, quite messily and unashamedly, and accepted. Niall appeared at my side and hugged me, instilling his good-fairy warmth. I hugged him back, seeping it all up. He was standing tall and exuding pride in waves.

"How do you feel?" he asked me. It was an odd question, considering I wasn't the one who nearly died giving birth the night before.

"Fine," I said.

"Do you realize what you've done?" he asked. He reached up to stroke my cheek affectionately. Fairies were such a touchy-feely bunch.

"No?"

"You've assured the future for our family. Assured the future and longevity of the Sky clan." His face broke into a wide, regal smile. His green eyes shone like emeralds. I realized that fairies had difficulty conceiving and reproducing but the praise, quite frankly, made me feel uncomfortable. He was talking like I'd be written into history books.

"It's fine," I said, with a dismissive wave. "Anyone here would've used the cluviel dor similarly if it were in their possession."

"She doesn't understand," Claudine said. She passed Adele to Colman for burping and gathered up a squirming Fintan into her arms.

"I don't understand what?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Niall popped me to Bec's house later in the morning, with a promise to return shortly so that both Hunter and I could come back to Bon Temps for the day. Despite now being five states away, it was still stinking hot. But South Carolina was a different heat to Louisiana. It wasn't as humid, it didn't cling to you like a second skin, and you felt that burning bite of the sun when it hit you.

I let myself in the front door and found Hunter inside with Abby and Bec having lunch.

"Mommy!" He hopped off his chair and threw himself straight into my arms.

"Hey, buddy." I scooped him up into a hug and covered his forehead with kisses.

"I fell asleep in my bed and woke up here!" he exclaimed. "My first sleepover."

"Is everything okay?" Bec asked. She thought I looked a little shell-shocked. I ushered Hunter back onto his chair. "Eric said it was your 'other' family."

"My cousin gave birth to twins last night," I said. Bec knew of my 'other' family – I'd told her a little about fairies and she'd accepted it, and me, readily. I guess when vampires and twoeys are out of the closet it's not that much of a stretch to accept other supernatural species. "It was close, but mother and babies survived."

"Oh, thank goodness," Bec said. "Well, Hunter's had a great morning, haven't you bud?"

"We've made a worm hospital," Abby announced, sitting up straight in her seat.

"I asked them to find more worms for the worm farm," Bec explained, pouring me a glass of sweet tea.

"The biggest worm was the doctor worm and we made beds out of leaves," Abby said while Hunter nodded along eagerly, mouth full of sandwich. "The mommy worm is the nurse."

"They kept running away!" Hunter said.

"Slithering," Abby corrected, quite seriously. It was apparently not the first time she'd had to tell him this.

"Was Eric okay when he dropped Hunter off?" I asked Bec.

"He was fine. Well, maybe a little annoyed."

"Annoyed?" I accepted the glass from her.

"Oh, not with you. My sense was that he was annoyed by the limitations of his supernatural existence."

I frowned. "I don't follow."

"I think he hated the fact that he couldn't watch Hunter for you through the day."

"Oh!" I smiled a little. "Well, that's nice."

"I thought so too."

Dermot was the one to pop back and take Hunter and I back to Bon Temps for the afternoon. More fairies were there, visiting dignitaries and people from the palace apparently, and all came bearing gifts and food. The kitchen table and counter-tops were absolutely laden with food, not a spot of available space to be seen. Niall sat in the armchair in the living room receiving guests and gifts, since Claudine and Colman were not to be disturbed. Claude informed me that after giving birth, the rules for fairies were strict. The parents were not expected to the leave the house or see anyone other than family for thirty-three days. Part superstition, but mostly to ensure the mother and infant, or infants as it were, were the central focus of the family. With their low birth-rate and high rate of maternal death, I suppose the rule made sense. New mothers and babies were revered.

Hunter met his new cousins, and then, in a hushed voice, told Claudine that the babies were cute, but he'd like them more once they could crawl and play with him. He gave her the gift I'd made for the babies - two crocheted loveys, one a bunny and another a lamb.

We returned home before dark. Claude loaded me up with a variety of stews and pies with red meat, since it was a luxury for us. Claude and I avoided speaking about what had transpired between us the night before or even in the previous weeks, but I got the distinct impression the hatchet was buried. We'd never be chummy, but I think knowing that he was hunting for the cluviel dor for Claudine made him somewhat tolerable. In theory. Kind of.

I bathed Hunter and then had a shower myself, trying to rid us of our fairy odor. We ate dinner in the back garden as the sun set. Eric joined us when the last of twilight disappeared, though I'd felt him stirring sometime earlier.

"Hey there, stranger," I said as he dropped a kiss to my cheek.

I had been surprised to sense his presence down in the basement when we got home. It was more or less light-tight down there and the door locked, but it wasn't exactly the safest place. A vampire's resting place was extremely closely guarded and generally a matter of secrecy. They were totally vulnerable when at rest. The fact he took a risk by going to down there, well, it was a first. Maybe it signaled a shift in him too.

"I take Claudine's okay?" He sat beside me on the blanket and stretched out his long legs. Hunter was running back and forth between us and the swing set, having a bite of his dinner and then racing back to spin himself on the swing. Keeping my shields in place so Hunter couldn't listen in, I filled Eric in quietly on what had happened. The dramatic births, Claudine's brush with death. Using the cluviel dor. He listened intently, a faint line forming between his brows. "You never told me you were in possession of a cluviel dor."

"I didn't think you'd know what it is," I said, picking at my nail. The nail polish was beginning to chip off. I snuck a look at him, his expression plainly told me that that fact hardly mattered.

"How long have you had it?"

I sighed and unfurled the whole story for him. I rehashed how I'd first met Claudine when I was chasing Ocella. How we searched for the cluviel dor in the old farmhouse in Bon Temps. How I'd kept it close as a backup in case anything happened to Hunter. Eric actually looked… hurt.

"I didn't keep it from you purposefully," I said.

"It just never came up in conversation? We've talked extensively about that time, Sookie."

Hunter ran back over to us, cutting off the knee-jerk response that was forming on my lips. I cajoled Hunter into eating the last few mouthfuls of his stew and then ushered him inside to get ready for bed with the promise he could watch a movie if he moved quick enough. I stood and began collecting everything to take in.

"Look, I'm not perfect, Eric," I said, trying and failing to keep the annoyance out of my tone. I handed him the afghan.

"When have I demanded perfection?"

"You don't get it. That thing, it was such a burden. Claudine said that there were enormous risks with making a wish. Disastrous consequences. Think Twilight Zone. The saying 'be careful what you wish for' is a literal adaptation of a fairy idiom. At the end of the day, I was too scared to use it. I didn't even want to think about it. So it was easier to do nothing and pretend it didn't exist. I hid it."

"Not surprising for you," he said coolly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I snapped. He had no answer to this, so I stalked inside ahead of him.

I got Hunter into his pajamas and cleaned his teeth. Eric set up Toy Story on the DVD player, while I got Hunter snuggled under a blanket on the couch with his sippy cup of water. I walked over to Eric once Hunter was absorbed and hugged him tightly. He was remained stiff for a moment and then wrapped his arms around me in return.

"I'm sorry. I don't want argue tonight," I said and cupped his cheek. "You look gray. I bet you're starving." There were shadowy circles under his eyes that weren't there usually. He nodded slightly, the movement almost imperceptible. Probably explained the snappiness too. We'd been apart for a week and then he'd missed feeding last night.

I pulled him by the hand, and we retreated down the hall to my bedroom. We sat beside one another on the bed and he wrapped me in his strong arms. He brushed the hair from my neck in a surprisingly tender gesture and I sighed softly, letting my shoulders relaxed. Sometimes I'd feel the sting of his fangs, but tonight I felt nothing at all. He took his time and drank slowly, just like those nights when we'd first met. Afterward, he rested his forehead against my shoulder, stroking my arm gently.

"You're not coming, are you," he said.

"No," I whispered. I thumbed away the tears that had gathered at the corner of my eyes. "It doesn't mean I won't consider it down the track. If you come back then we can—"

"It's too scary for you," he said, interrupting me. "You'd rather put the decision in a box under your floorboards and pretend it doesn't exist. That's easier than taking the risk."

I made a strangled sound before pinching my lips shut. Oh God, he was right, wasn't he? I reached out blindly for my nightstand and grabbed the tissue box.

"What's Hunter doing?" he asked. Some time had passed since we'd left the living room.

"He's fallen asleep," I said, though it was any wonder Eric understood me, my words came out choked and garbled. He stood wordlessly and left the room. I watched him pass by my doorway a minute later, Hunter's sleeping form in his arms.

I had mostly mopped myself up by the time Eric returned from tucking Hunter into bed. He sat beside me.

"How long?" I'd asked him this before and we'd both skirted around the subject. I knew the answer would be painful. We both knew.

"We're not driving from Florida to the South Carolina," he said gently. "We're crossing the entire country, lover. The roads are in disrepair so there's bound to be many detours. When we arrive, I'll make sure Pam is safe and established with the vampire community there, and then turn around and come back again. It will take some time." When I remained quiet, he continued. "Months. No more than 12."

"Okay." I let out a shuddering sigh.

"Pam instructed me to tell you that she has picked my donor for the trip," he continued. My heart sank. I found I really couldn't lift my gaze from the bed covers. "A middle-aged white man, rather rotund. His name is Kevin. Apparently in a previous life, he was an independent auditor."

I let out a surprised laugh. "She really has you pegged, that child of yours."

"Indeed," he said and chuckled. "Nothing will compare to you, lover. You taste especially good tonight. More..." he trailed off in thought.

"More what?" I was curious to hear his response.

"More you," he finished simply. I let out an internal sigh of relief. I wasn't silly, I knew I had communication issues, but this really was something that would be better left down the track once he returned. I needed to grapple with it myself first. He lifted my chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing me to look him in the eyes. "I want you to take my blood," he said.

"Why?"

"It will help keep you in good health. I can monitor your safety until the distance grows too great between us." He took my hand in his, curling his long fingers between mine. "And I will feel you. A piece of me will remain behind with you."

I climbed into his lap and we kissed for the longest time, his cool hands roving the length of my back from under my tank top. I ran my hands through his long hair, enjoying his shiver of pleasure and the goosebumps that prickled on his neck.

We made love slowly, savoring each moment as it passed, each losing ourselves in the other. The lights cut out abruptly sometime later, and we both started in shock and laughed. I lit the beeswax candles on my nightstand. He practically swung me back into his arms and slashed his wrist against his fangs. I brought his wrist it to my mouth, and we locked gazes as I sucked. His blood filled my mouth, cool and enticing. I loved looking at him like this. His face so open and exposed, his soft vampire-glow ethereal and magic-like. He was mine and only mine.

"Do you feel me?" he asked, his voice like an anchor, dragging me down into unfathomable depths. He thrust into me slowly, rhythmically, surely. "I feel you. I feel you, Sookie."

His wrist healed and he slashed it again. I drank him until I felt him galloping through my veins, throbbing and warm. I drank him until I felt dizzy and limp and fiery and like my orgasm would explode through me in a great burst of light. "Now!" I cried and threw my arms around his neck. He bit down hard, and we came together spectacularly.

"I have a gift for you," I said, once my consciousness managed to surface.

"My insatiable fairy. Give me a minute to recover." He gave me the most dreamy, wonderful smile. I giggled and propped myself up on my side.

"A gift of the non-sexual variety. Check my nightstand drawer."

He leaned over me, giving me a full view of his fantastic chest, and opened the drawer. He grabbed the box and laid back next to me.

"C'mon, open it!"

He removed the bow and lifted the lid. "An iPhone?"

"Hit the home button." He removed the phone and did as instructed. A photo of me lit up on the lock screen.

"Very inventive, lover."

"There's a car charger, so you can plug it in if it's Pam's turn to drive and you can keep using it. But if not, you'll be able to charge it up and use it once you get to California."

"Use it?"

"Look," I said, and reached across and unlocked the phone. The screen changed revealing the only app on the main page.

"Candy Crush!" His face lit up like a kid in a candy store. He grabbed me by the hips and rolled me on top of him. "I love it. I'm surprised you even remember." He kissed me deeply.

Of course I remembered.

He'd told me back when we were on the road from Florida how it was one of the things he missed most from the old world. I'd found it so hilarious at the time and somehow strangely humanizing. In the last week, I'd ransacked nearly every empty home in River Rock and collected every cell phone I could find, then charged them all and searched through them one-by-one until I found one with Candy Crush installed. Grueling didn't come close to describing the lengthy process.

"I figure it'll keep you busy during those long nights. Plus, there's some photos of me on there you may interest you," I said, my face flushing red. After Pam's blunt conversation with me about Eric and a vampire's needs, I figured I really did need to be inventive.

"Oh, really?" he said, appearing quite excited by this prospect.

"Don't look now!"

"How is it possible you're shy? You're currently spread naked atop me." I groaned and buried my face in his neck as he inspected said images. "Lover?"

"Yes, honey?"

"I've recovered." And so he had. "I don't believe this will be enough photos to suffice. How much internal memory does this phone have?"

The evening lasted until the wee hours of the morning, we talked and joked around and made love and talked some more and, when all was said and done, I asked him to wake me before leaving – which he didn't. And I knew he wouldn't. It was the world's saddest inside joke.

When I awoke, there was a note beside the bed. I smiled blearily and opened the folded scrap of paper.

 _Avoid all rotten fence palings until I'm back._  
 _Tu media naranja,  
E_

My half orange.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

At first the summer crept by slowly. My birthday arrived without much fanfare, although Hunter and I spent an enjoyable day in Bon Temps. The whole extended family were there. The twins, now six weeks old, were smiling and Hunter got a kick out of coaxing little toothless grins from them. Despite the quiet start to the month, the Fourth of July was a total blast. There was a big party in the town's main square, with music and games and grilled meat. We all sang the Star Spangled Banner, there were more damp eyes in the crowd than there were not.

The solar hot water system sat incomplete and vexing me from afar in the garage. I'd all but given up for the time being. With the warmer weather, hot water wasn't such an issue, anyway. The water practically ran hot straight from the faucet.

Crops grew and were harvested. Many swap-meets and cookouts were held. A few new stragglers arrived to town from the world beyond. We finally got our doctor. Three babies were born. Bec revealed to me one day, as we walked into town for a community meeting, that she and Johnny – the reformed biker who'd help me search for Hunter – were seeing each other. It was an unlikely match. She was small and petite; he was enormous and bearded and had a good hundred pounds and twenty years on her. I sure ate humble pie when I asked Bec if she was concerned about the age difference. Eric had a good millennium on me. At least Bec got a laugh.

Things took a dramatic turn on a cool Autumn morning in late October. Hunter had started kindergarten the month before and that day I was with him in class helping out. The teacher, a young guy named Forest, often needed the extra set of hands, and it helped Hunter knowing I was there if things got too tough mentally for him. The class was a mix of kinder through to grade 2, fifteen kids in total, and that morning we were making playdoh and experimenting with mixing colors.

Hunter ran across the room to me weeping, blue playdoh stuck to his fingers. "Mommy, I'm scared!"

"What's wrong?" I dropped my shields and knelt in front of him. We turned our heads in unison toward the car park, and I stifled my gasp. "It's fine. Put your shields back up," I urged. "I have to go, but I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise. Mommy will sort it out."

I pulled the teacher aside to tell him if I wasn't back by three then Hunter was to go home with Abby. I ran out to meet Jessup and Johnny who were jogging up the path toward me.

"Where?" I asked.

"On the southern outskirts. In one of the old farmsteads," Jessup said.

"Oh, shit. I didn't even know people lived that far out that way." We ran back to the car together. Johnny hopped behind the wheel, and I slid into the backseat. I was greeted by a stack of rifles lying on the footwell. "What the hell happened?"

"We don't know how long they've been trapped in there. Folks don't see them much; they keep to themselves. God knows where the dogs picked up rabies."

"How many dogs?"

"Four, we think," said Johnny. His big fists tightened around the steering wheel. "Big ones too. Ridgebacks."

"Shit."

"Carol's trapped in the upper floor bathroom, and no idea where the hell Ron is hiding out. She's been shouting out the window to us," Jessup said.

"It's too small for her to squeeze out?"

Jessup grunted in confirmation. "Lotte tried to get in the front door with a tranq gun." He twisted in his seat, his features grim. I didn't need to read his mind.

"Oh no…It's bad then," I said. I clapped my hand over my mouth as the image of her mangled arm appeared in his thoughts.

"It's a nasty bite. Didn't even get a chance to shoot the damn thing. Just slammed the door once she wrestled it off." Shit, shit, shit.

"The vaccines are expired," Johnny said, before I could ask the question.

"Oh my God." Rabies was no joke. It was a death sentence.

We pulled up at the farmstead, the garden was overgrown though green and lovely, and the peeling shingles of the old clapboard home reminded me a lot of what my family farmhouse looked like once upon a time. A handful of people were milling about out front. And no one knew what to do.

Lotte was sitting under the shade of an ancient oak having her upper-arm treated by Rashid, the medical student who'd arrived earlier in the year. Jessup hopped out and opened the trunk. He began pulling on a set of thick work coveralls followed by elbow-length leather gloves.

"I need you to tell me where the dogs are stationed," he said to me. "I'll go in and take them out."

"You can't do that!" I said slamming the car door shut behind me. "The consequences of you getting bit…? What are you gonna do then?" Last thing anyone needed in this town was their leader transforming into a rabid werewolf.

"Johnny," Jessup said. He clasped a hand firmly on his friend's shoulder. They shared a long significant look.

"Yes, boss," Johnny said and bowed his head. Oh my God!

"No," I cried. "Johnny – don't be ridiculous. No one is putting anyone down. Shame on you both! Neither of you should be thinking like that. Storming in there on your own is suicide mission, Jessup. You go in there and get bit? You're doing no one any favors. We gotta be smart about this."

"What do you suggest then?" he growled. My gaze traveled over his shoulder to land on the house.

"Ron is dead," I said. "I can't sense him. Three dogs are downstairs, grouped in the front right corner, whatever room that is. One is upstairs, pacing, I think. The others on the first floor are slowing, but that one on the second floor is quick. Maybe the rabies isn't as progressed."

I opened the car door and withdrew two rifles. I handed one to Jessup. "You got another one of those outfits?"

"I can't in good conscience risk leaving Hunter without a mother," he said gruffly.

"You won't be. Anything happens to me, then one of y'all will be racing my ass to California." Praying the whole way that vampire blood cures rabies. "Can we lure them all together somehow? Use meat or something?"

"Lotte said they'd be desperately thirsty," Johnny said.

"We could run the hose through the kitchen window," Jessup said. "The window there is unlocked. We could open it a crack, stick the nozzle through."

"That might work." I checked the safety on my rifle and grabbed the box of ammo off the back seat. I pulled the bolt back, loaded a shell and then loaded more into the magazine. "I'm sure," I said, preempting their incoming questions. "The first time I went hunting I was seven. The last time was last month. I'm a good shot. Now I'll cover you and tell you where they are and what they're doing. The two of us can take out the ones on the bottom floor."

"We shoot and the one upstairs will come racing."

"Well... we move quickly then. When that one comes down, we'll be waiting at the bottom of the stairs for it. Anyone here know the layout inside?"

I got into another set of coveralls and rolled up the sleeves and pant legs so it fit my shorter frame. Lotte had a spare pair of gloves in her kit, which thankfully fit me perfectly. Jessup called over one of Ron and Carol's friends, who informed us that the stairs were in the center of the home.

"You're sure, Sookie?"

"Are you?" I countered, lifting my chin. We both knew the answers to those questions.

Johnny jogged the hose around the side of the house, poked it through the window and turned it on to just a dribble. Sure enough, the three hounds came ambling in, wheezing and foaming, snapping at one another. They approached the water hesitantly and began drinking.

"Heck, I can just take 'em out here," said Jessup. He dragged a crate over from beside the back door and stood on it. Slowly, he pulled the window open a little more using the muzzle of the rifle. He cocked the weapon, and Johnny and I stepped back. I covered my ears and looked away. Three loud shots rang out. Even muffled, the sound made my ears ring. Jessup nudged me with the toe of his boot. "What's that other one doing?"

"He's still upstairs." I stood on my tiptoes and peeked through the window. The poor dogs had fallen against one another. It was grisly, but he got them all between the eyes. A quick death.

Jessup closed his eyes and turned his head, lifting an ear skyward. "I can hear him pacing up there. Alright, I'm going in. Sookie, just stay here. I can handle this." I nodded gratefully and he moved on ahead. No sooner had he reloaded and disappeared when I zeroed in on the woman's thoughts in the bathroom upstairs.

"What is it?" Johnny asked when he caught sight of my expression.

"Son of a mother!" I snatched up the rifle. "She thinks the dogs are all dead; she's tryin' to get out of the bathroom!"

I ran straight inside before Johnny could grab me. The house was dingy and dark, and rank with feces and death. A deep roar bellowed from upstairs, followed by a high-pitched scream and a loud shot. I ran the stairs two at a time to see Jessup and the dog wrestling on the ground. Carol was knocked down and sliding herself backwards on her butt toward the open bathroom door, her forehead bleeding profusely.

"Shoot him!" she shrieked. "Shoot him!"

"Hold still, Jessup!" I screamed. The dog was latched to his arm, thrashing its head back and forth snarling. I pressed the rifle butt firmly against my shoulder and took aim. I exhaled slowly, steadily, and fired once, pulled the bolt, and fired again. The action jarred me, sending a wave of dull pain through my shoulder.

Jessup kicked the dog's limp body off him and flopped back on the floor with a groan. I set the rifle down and ran over to him. "Are you okay?" I pulled off his glove and dragged his sleeve up.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, panting. "It didn't break the skin. Go see to Carol."

I led her outside, the poor woman was in shock. Rashid ran straight over to us the moment we emerged from the front door. The wound on her head was thankfully superficial, Jessup had tried to slam the bathroom shut to lock her in, but the door's edge caught her on the forehead instead. I walked over to the oak tree and sat down like a heavy lump beside Lotte.

"Definitely not the way I pictured today going," Lotte said, her Danish accent especially distinct.

I let out a somewhat crazed laugh. "You're telling me. Are you gonna be okay?"

"The risk is quite small if you wash and disinfect the wound site immediately. I should be fine." Though she said this confidently, her mind was mess of doubt and fear. "But you need to go hose off. You don't know if you got saliva anywhere on you. Wash out your mouth, ears, eyes, scrub under your nails. Everywhere."

Jessup and I stripped down to our underthings and washed off with detergent and a stiff scrubbing brush in the backyard under the hose. It was one of the more unpleasant bathing experiences I'd suffered in recent history. Someone rustled up some blankets for us and we wrapped ourselves in them, watching as a group went in to retrieve Ron's body. He'd been mauled in the upstairs bedroom. The dogs had been feeding on his remains.

In many ways life post-plague was a lot simpler. But in most ways it was harder, grimmer and so much more unforgiving.

We headed back into town and met in the community hall where townsfolk were already gathering. Word had spread. Someone brought me fresh clothes, and bottles of beer were handed out. A grim celebration. I was hugged, thanked, patted on the back.

"I'm sorry, Sookie," Jessup said when we had a quiet moment. I looked at him sharply. He didn't mean for today. I then sighed a took the seat next to him when he indicated.

Look, in honesty, I always understood why he had problems with me. Donna had died at the hands of vampires, and in a round-about way it was my fault. I don't think he could ever quite put it behind him. Accepting Eric was simply out of the question. Just like it was easier for me not to think about making a tough decision - like, say, moving across the country - it was easier for him to hide in a shroud of anger and resentment than deal with the death of his common-law wife.

"That's okay," I said and took another swig of beer. I winced; it tasted foul. "I've always been an outsider, it's nothing new to me. I just want a better life for Hunter than what I had."

"He's well loved. You know that."

"Don't I, just."

"You did good today."

"Speak for yourself. And you did the same for me with Hunter. You're a selfless man, Jessup. The town wouldn't be the same without you."

"Look, when Eric's back. I want you to know..." He took a sip of beer and grimaced. I don't know if it was the words or his beer that hurt to taste. "Ah, Christ. Look, I want you know that he's welcome here. I'll help you find a place suitable for y'all. I can get a crew together. Build something light-tight and secure underground for him. I bet Nick can design some sort of electric locking mechanism that'll run through the day."

"Thank you," I said, and he patted me on the back. "You know, just imagine how simply today would've been resolved if a vampire live in town. We could've told Carol to sit tight till nightfall and Eric coulda zipped in and…" I snapped my fingers four times. He dropped his head and rubbed a hand against the back of his neck.

"That's alright. It all worked out," I said. Sadly, not for Ron, but we'd handled the situation on our own. We'd just have to keep our fingers crossed that Lotte would be fine as well.

I managed to choke the rest of my beer down, in a sort of stunned state as townsfolk came and chatted to me. All I'd ever wanted was the town's acceptance, and now looking around the hall, I'd clearly earned it. Whatever misgivings people had about me before, it all seemed to be wiped away.

And honestly? It made me feel like a complete idiot.

I collected Hunter from school at three o'clock; he asked about the 'angry dogs' and I explained, as compassionately as I could, that they had gone to heaven. I think he'd been worried sick all day, but he relaxed with this explanation.

"Like everyone from the before-time," he said, handing me his backpack.

"Exactly. They'll be safe and happy there."

We rode home, taking the scenic route (i.e. stopping past an old playground) where a couple of neighborhood kids were already making the most of the chilly afternoon. We parked our bikes against a tree. I pulled my loaned coat more closely around me and sat on the bench. Another mom sat beside me, and we made idle chit-chat.

"Those two yours?" I asked, nodding to a cherubic little girl and an older boy. They were familiar.

"Oh yeah, seven and nine and sending me gray already," she said with a laugh. "He's cute, your kid. It's Hunter, right? Little Zoey's talked about him."

"Yeah, it's Hunter," I said. "He's a good kid."

In that moment I experienced an epiphany, one of those ones where you're lifted up outside of your body and suddenly see yourself and everything around you with clear, high definition clarity. Oh, boy. What a day of personal revelations. If only I could go back three months in time and give myself a good, hard shake.

Hunter and I pushed our bikes home. He dragged his heels the whole way, moving as fast as cold molasses and whining the entire time. When we got back, I fixed him a snack and opened up the garage. I dragged everything out and finally finished installing that stupid solar hot water. It turned out it wasn't that difficult, after all.

* * *

 **A/N:** One more chapter to go!


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Winter proved to be one long-enduring cold-snap. Morning frosts, freezing rain, hail, sleet. The whole gamut – not counting any significant snowfall. Thank the Lord for that, I didn't think my Louisiana-bred ass could handle snow. As it was, I kept the wood heater running continuously. I was so grateful when Colman, Claude and Dermot arrived with armloads of dry firewood one cold January morning and proceeded to pop back and forth until my wood stores were full. Yes, I kept my home at thermo-nuclear temperatures, but that was my prerogative, thank you very much.

In the colder months, I'd begun helping out at the health clinic, handling the clerical work and other administrative duties. I found I quite enjoyed it, I got a lot of face-to-face time with folk from about town, and it enabled me to stay close by while Hunter was in school. Though he was managing just fine on his own.

Bec and Johnny got married on Christmas day, and she was now beginning to show and beginning to keep her lunch down, both of which pleased her to no end. She was happy as a clam, as were Johnny and Abby. Nick had managed to get the power running all night now, so we'd danced up a storm in the town hall the night of their wedding; the entire town was in attendance.

On weekends, Hunter and I hiked and explored the forest behind our home. We climbed trees, turned over boulders looking for bugs, discovered creeks, while unintentionally disturbing flocks of deer and the odd cotton-tailed rabbit. I built him a treehouse in the backyard using scrap timber, which the goat promptly demolished and consumed. I built him another, higher this time, which proved to be more durable (and outside of mouth's reach). Kids were now riding their bikes to our house on the weekend to play in the 'secret hideout'.

I waited.

I spent a lot of evenings trying to think of ways to make the days pass by. I spent a lot of evenings staring out of my window in darkness, my thoughts traveling all the way to California as if they could somehow snatch some sort of message or piece of information from there like a crystal ball and bring it back to me. I spent a lot of evenings trying to find the thread of any remaining blood bond with Eric. I imagined what I would do if it were still there. I'd grab it, pull on it like a rope and drag Eric across mountain ranges, desert, farmland and forest until he landed back on my doorstep. But too much time had passed; our bond had faded out of existence.

And so I waited.

I awoke one night from dead sleep with a gasp. I heard a rumble, faint and far away. I held my breath. It was getting louder, getting closer. I tossed back my bed covers and took off at a run. I threw open the front door and raced down my long driveway, my bare feet slapping against cold concrete. Headlights illuminated the road in a wide, yellow beam. I ran out into the middle of it and stopped, panting. My heart felt like a train pounding down the tracks and my hands trembled. The truck stopped and the driver's side door swung open with a creak. Long legs, long magnificent legs, emerged.

"Eric!" I let out an incredulous laugh. Eleven months. Eleven excruciating months. I ran to him and he met me with wide, open arms. He swept me up and spun me around.

"There's my girl," he said, and we kissed, hard and desperate at first, then softer as we lost ourselves. I'd forgotten so much, his familiar cool scent, the shape of his cheek under my palm, the exact feeling of his lips on mine.

He lifted me and zipped me inside at vamp speeds and we landed on the couch with a bounce.

"How are you?" he asked, his hands and gaze inspecting every inch of me. He pushed up the sleeves of my flannel nightgown, his cool fingers exploring, examining.

"I'm fine. I'm good," I said. I reached out and brushed his hair away from his forehead. It was a little more unkempt than usual, like he hadn't bothered to comb it that night.

"And Hunter?"

"He's enormous. You won't recognize him," I said. Eric stood and took my hand; we went to peek in on Hunter sleeping.

"He has a scar on his chin," he said.

"We were throwing rocks at the river last summer. One bounced back off a boulder and hit him on the chin." I patted Eric's chest when I spotted his frown. "That's childhood, Eric. Kids get hurt. You can't wrap them in cotton wool all the time."

I gently pulled Hunter's door closed and led Eric by the hand down the hall, past the boxes and disarray, to my bedroom. I switched on the reading lamp by my bed. I'd expected Eric to comment on the all-night power but instead his gaze was focused on me. His face was soft and full of promise. I think it was my very favorite expression of his. My big bad vampire, looking at me like I'd hung the moon.

"Your hair is much longer," he said. He collected a thick lock and ran his fingers through it.

"Well, it's been a while."

"Indeed it has, lover." He wrapped his arms around me, and we hugged for the longest time.

"Warm bath?" I said and felt a dizzying jolt. When I opened my eyes, we were standing in the bathroom. He grinned at my stunned expression.

I undressed him slowly and him me, and I nestled against him once the tub was filled. He bathed me, soaping my arms, scrubbing my back, shampooing my hair. It wasn't exactly how I had pictured things to go when I'd suggested a shared bath, but I relaxed and allowed him to do as he wished. I'd forgotten how nice it was to be looked after.

"I missed you, Eric," I said.

"And I you." He leaned me back against his chest. His soapy hands found my breasts and he kissed his way lightly along my clavicle. I felt the light scrape of his fangs. "Life does not feel whole without you. In fact, it feels quite empty." His hand paused under my left breast where my heart jackhammered.

"I love you," I rasped. Tears pricked my eyes, so I squeezed them shut. "I understand if it's not the same for you. But, frankly, it makes no difference to me."

"Why wouldn't it be the same for me?"

"Well… Pam told me—"

"She told you what?" he said, lifting his head.

"That vampires weren't capable of, you know, love and other human emotions."

He laughed, the sound reverberating through his chest. I turned around in the bath, water sloshing over the rim, and faced him, kneeling. "Why are you laughing?"

"That you would take Pam's word as gospel. You know my child well, lover, do you think she's knowledgeable about matters of the heart?" He cupped a hand behind my neck. "If what I feel for you isn't true love, then I cannot tell you what is."

I grinned and took the soap from its holder, slowly soaping my hands. His gaze followed the movements keenly.

"My turn," I said.

I began with his toes and feet, making my way up his legs and chest, soaping his hair and then making my way back down. I slowed as I approached his more sensitive region, which was already fired up, and tutted sympathetically. "Oh, honey. That's looks painful." As if on cue, his manhood twitched.

"Can you see what you do to me?" he asked, his voice strained. I reached back and drained some of the bathwater away, so I had a clearer view.

"And you've been so patient," I murmured, resuming my massage. I kneaded his thighs, circling closer and closer. "How's a big manly vampire like you to cope?" I took him in both hands, slowly stroking him up and down. He groaned, lifting his hips in time with my movements. "Nearly a whole year. Did you touch yourself? Did you touch yourself and think of me?"

"Gods! Yes," he hissed. "Every night." His head dropped back, eyes closed, fangs on display. I kept my rhythm agonizingly steady and his hip twisted, trying to urge me on. The sight was so erotic, it took everything in me not to just climb on top of him. I leaned forward and took him in my mouth, trying to keep the rhythm my hands had set. He groaned, "Yes, Sookie…Like that. Faster, lover, faster."

I dutifully complied. His hand took firm hold of my hair and soon every muscle in him seemed to tense. He suddenly spoke in his ancient tongue and came hard for me. He gathered me up into my arms afterward.

"I'm still soapy, lover. Let me shower, and I will take you to bed," he said. Back in bed he paid his orgasm back to me with interest, before I collapsed into his arms, boneless.

"Where's Kevin? Or is he waiting out in the car outside?" I said teasingly. He'd fed from me, but not needed to take a lot.

"The community in California is thriving. You'd be surprised, Sookie. It's more than just subsistence agriculture, they have their own currency and the beginnings of industry again. A local business is producing synthetic blood. I brought cases of it with me."

"Wow? Like True Blood?"

"Not quite," he said, his mouth turning down in distaste. "It's called Life Blood and tastes like horse urine."

"You know what that's like, do you?" I said and laughed. He did not find this quite as amusing as me. I suppose I wouldn't either if it was the only thing I could consume for weeks on end. "Alright – tell me everything. How's Pam? What's it like there? How was the trip?"

Eric told me the drive to California had been long and laborious for them. Some roads had collapsed, others were overgrown and beyond being driven on. Often their detours required detours of their own. We laughed as he described how one night he'd had to lift and fly the car over a collapsed bridge on a raging river and how Kevin had fainted in shock.

Pam enjoyed the change of scenery in California. The community was based in a small seaside township called Morro Bay that was eight thousand strong. Which by post-apocalypse standards was absolutely enormous. Eric described the vast ocean views and enormous volcanic rock that jutted out in the bay, and the lagoons teeming with fish waiting to be caught. Pam opened a bar by the beach that sold locally produced wine and spirits.

I got back into my nightgown and made myself a snack in the kitchen while Eric went out to retrieve an armful of wood for the fire. He knelt by the wood heater and gently coaxed the coals back to life. I watched as he stood and slowly turned on the spot, finally taking in the state of my home.

"Sookie?" he said in an uncertain tone.

"Yeah, hon?"

"Why are there boxes everywhere?"

"Why do you think?" I leaned against the kitchen counter and took a big ol' satisfying bite of my sandwich.

"Redecorating?"

"Nope."

"Renovating?"

"Nuh-uh."

"Tell me, why?" His smile turned broad and impish, his eyes glittering in the orange fire light.

"Oh," I said lightly, "I was thinking Hunter and I were ready for a sea change."

"Is that so?" He walked toward me slowly like a cat on the prowl.

"Yep," I said and set my sandwich down.

"East or West coast?"

"Well, I've already explored the east. Look, Florida's nice and all, but I hear the views in the west are to die for."

He pounced and spun me around in a great big hug. "Really? Are you sure?" he asked after laying one me.

"I'm sure I'm sure. Only if you're willing to take us."

I squealed as he threw me over his shoulder and took me outside and back onto the street. He proudly showed off the beast he had driven in on. It was certainly something to behold. He called it an RV on steroids. The thing stood almost high as a Mack truck, and the wheels were equipped for off-roading. The engine was enormous, it jutted out the front like a mountain and obscured most of the view on the passenger side.

He popped the hood, which was barely counted as a hood since it had an enormous hole cut through the middle of it so the engine could fit.

"What kind of engine is this?" I asked. I couldn't see very well in the darkness, but it was definitely not like anything I'd ever seen before. "What does it run on?"

"Water and solar," he said. I stared at him, agog. This was the holy grail of transportation.

"You're lying."

He shook his head. "It's slow, needs to be refueled frequently, but it runs well. A team developed this engine not long before we arrived to Morro. Apparently the technology has existed in rudimentary form back in the old world, but it never got to see the light of day."

"Show me the inside," I said, tugging his hand. The interior of the RV was small but functional. Two beds, a kitchenette with a gas cooker, a laminate table and a long, cushioned bench seat.

"And check this out." He popped open the bench seat. Hidden underneath was a smooth fiberglass coffin.

"So I can keep driving through the day," I said, impressed. "It doesn't look too roomy in there though."

"Once I'm out for the day I don't notice," he said with a shrug. He put him arm around me as we walked back to the house. "I took my time driving back. I mapped a route for us, one that is safe with good driving conditions and plenty of opportunities to stop so that Hunter can get out and sightsee."

"Are you sure about this, Eric?" I asked once we were back by the warmth of the fire. "Look, I'm not asking you to be Hunter's father, but…"

"But there's still expectations?" he said, filling in my half-formed thought. I nodded. "He's your family just as Pam is mine. I will be there for him in any way you wish for me to be."

"Okay," I said and squeezed his hand. I didn't know what I wanted from him, but somehow this was exactly it.

"What changed your mind? I thought you might agree, but I expected a lot of convincing on my part. Many, many nights, in fact." He waggled his brows suggestively. And I'm sure that would've been a hardship he'd have valiantly committed to.

I recounted the story of the rabid dogs, which Eric really wasn't happy to hear about, but I told him of Jessup's and the town's acceptance.

"My whole life, I think, I've been living in the shadow of the trauma caused by my childhood. My mom and dad couldn't cope with me, I was a social pariah in many respects right through to adulthood. And really, all I ever wanted was to be accepted. It was like a splinter in my thumb that I couldn't ignore. I was so focused on what I'd missed out on back then that I realized that it never really mattered. I don't need acceptance. I haven't needed it for a long time." I shook my head, ruminating over all the unnecessary pain it had caused me over the years. "Hunter's childhood won't be my childhood."

"He has you," Eric said.

"Exactly. And he's thriving. He doesn't need to be here to do that. He'll fit in anywhere I take him."

We talked timelines, when would be best to leave – we both agreed in mid-spring with the mountain thaw – and then we talked logistics. I didn't want to have to rummage for provisions along the way, so there was to be a fair bit of planning involved in terms of food and supplies.

"I feel like a pilgrim crossing the Oregon Trail," I told him. Flutters of excitement were taking hold in my stomach.

"Pam made the same comparison when we first headed over," he said with a snort. "She made me stop at a library and obtain a copy of Jubilee Trail."

"For you to read? And what did you think?"

"Drivel."

I cracked up. I'd read it more than once, Gran had a copy of it on the shelf at home. At one time it had even been up there with my favorites. I really couldn't picture Eric liking it, what with its flowery prose and wandering, romantic narrative. I leaned into his arm and propped my feet up on the coffee table so that the heat of the fire would warm my still-chilled soles.

"Where were you in the world during that time?" I asked.

"The 19th century?" he said, and I nodded. "I was traveling through Europe. I was in London mid-century when I met Pam and brought her with me," he said, and I pulled a face. 'Brought' was a really on-the-nose descriptor for ending the life of a 19-year-old girl. "I'm a vampire, Sookie. I've never pretended to be otherwise."

"And you murdered her to… what? Have a companion?"

His expression turned serious. "It's not murder."

"It's not murder to end a human life?"

"And thus begin a new one? There's no death there. Unless you count death of societal oppression. Do you think Pam would have ever been satisfied with a Victorian lifestyle? She wanted to escape impending marriage, institutionalized child-rearing; she wanted to see the world. I would never take such a decision lightly. I chose her for a reason."

"And you've never regretted the immortality foisted on you by your maker?"

"There is no comparison there," he said. His eyes darkened in memory. "My human life was taken suddenly and without consent. When Pam was turned, I made her drink the blood of goats until I trusted her enough to feed from humans safely. Ocella, he commanded me to drain hundreds indiscriminately. We followed war campaigns for dozens and dozens of years – the Normans through Italy, the Byzantine empire as they pillaged their way across Georgia. We fought alongside soldiers, reveling in the bloodshed. We glutted ourselves on them."

I stared at him in horror.

"That is my history, Sookie. That cruelty is part of me." He said it so flatly. This is me. Take it or leave it.

"I've never known you to be like that." It was impossible to square away my toothsome, loving vampire against one so familiar with pain and death. "I can't even imagine it."

"And I am no longer. It's not a life I would've chosen for myself. You know already how tight a maker's hold can be. My early years were driven by pain, anger and remorse and an unyielding thirst and bloodlust. He tried to shape me to be very different than what I am now. He wanted a ruthless, calculating vampire. He saw those as the only qualities of a successful progeny. I struck out on my own as soon as I could."

"What did you do then?

"My first few years I spent in relative solitude. I traveled. I lived amongst humans and amongst my kind."

"Were you soul searching?" I asked.

"In a way," he responded, the hard lines around his lips softened.

"Is what you went through why you endeavored to be so different for Pam?"

He nodded. "I was lonely. I wanted a chance to right some wrongs, if only within myself."

I sighed and stared up the ceiling. The firelight flickered and swelled, casting strange pockets of light and shadow. It was hard to cast the bloody images he'd painted out of my mind. I realized it was a different time then, and I got that he was trapped and tortured by his maker, but it was just so… brutal.

"How do you even escape the ravages of time when you live forever?" I murmured, mostly to myself. Eric had changed so much over the years. The prospect of such drastic change occurring, maybe even unknowingly, in small increments was overwhelming. Terrifying.

"Sookie…?"

"There's something I need to tell you," I whispered. I inhaled slowly, steeling myself. "Remember how I told you about the cluviel dor and it's unintended consequences?"

Eric froze in place like someone had pressed pause.

"Yes," he said carefully. "I recall."

"Well, there were some."

"What consequences? What did you wish for exactly?"

"I think something along the lines of wanting myself and my family to live. I can't really remember." It all happened in a panicked blur.

"Face me, Sookie," he said, his tone urgent. "I want to look at you. Tell me what that means."

I faced him, looking him dead in the eye. "It turns out for me and everyone else present when I used the wish, which is essentially the whole royal family of the Sky clan, we have somehow… cheated death indefinitely."

"You're immortal?"

"Barring accidental death, according to Niall."

I'd never seen Eric at a loss for words. His face turned blank and unnaturally still. I knew this meant his mind was running at a million miles an hour.

"Please say something. I'm kind of freaking out over here."

"Immortality is a gift, Sookie. It's a gift."

"I don't know. Is it? The effects didn't extend to Hunter. Does that mean I'll watch him wither away and die in eighty years? Is that a good thing? Maybe it is. How do I begin to cope with that? I mean, all I ever wanted was for him to have a normal life. Well, as much as I could hope for one in this world. I… I have to think that's good, at least." I sighed. "How do I deal with this?"

"You don't let the enormity swallow you," he said. Eric's blue eyes were bright with emotion, he reached over and took my hands in his. "Immortality still occurs one day at a time, just like mortal life."

"Look how much it changed you. What if it changes me?"

"My maker changed me. Then I changed myself. It's not the same."

"And I'm not even sure if I'll age," I continued. My thoughts and worries rammed into one another like dodgem cars. "Niall consulted with some fairy mystic who says apparently not, but the babies are aging. She apparently said something about the children reaching stasis in adulthood. So maybe I'm just trapped at this age. I don't even know. I don't even know what to think about that. I've always wanted to know what I'd look like as an old woman." I'd kind of looked forward to living through my golden years in the way Gran had. "But what if I do age? What if in, like, five hundred years I suddenly turn into an old crone and I'll be all alone trying to manage—"

"Sookie, it's okay. Whatever happens… You won't be alone. You'll have me and Pam. And your fairy brethren."

I closed my eyes and drew a deep, shaky breath.

"Really," he said firmly, "You won't be alone."

"So you reckon just one day at a time, then?" In theory, that sounded manageable. I suppose Eric was the expert in this. I opened my eyes again. He had brought his face close to mine, his eyes were rimmed with red tears. I gasped softly and placed a hand on his cheek.

"Yes," he said. "One day at a time, lover. I can't tell you how happy this has made me. You'll see. I'll show you how good an immortal life can be. Aren't you at all curious to see how the world's going to change? Wouldn't you like to be part of that? Wouldn't you like to see what happens next with someone by your side?"

"I don't know… I guess I never really thought of it like that."

"You will. And whatever happens I'll be there to help you negotiate it. We'll do it together."

"Okay," I said, clinging to the assurance of his strong, confident tone. I knew for him this was the best possible scenario. He'd already lamented more than once about not being able to turn me post-plague since baby vampires were still outlawed. As if I'd ever let him. But for me? Was this the best thing? I had no answer to that except the fear that came with the unknown.

We talked for a while longer, Eric soothing much of those fears, and he carried me to bed midway through my second yawn. Dawn wasn't far away, and I knew Hunter would be dragging me out of bed in only a couple of hours. "Stay in the basement," I managed to say before sleep took hold of me. "I bricked up the window and set up a bed for you down there."

"Gladly," he said and tucked some loose strands of my hair behind my ear. I'd somehow forgotten in the preceding year, but our hair was almost the exact same color.

I went out like a light.

* * *

We ended up staying in River Rock until May. I hosted a huge bonfire and cookout in my back yard the weekend before we left, and it seemed like the entire town came to wish us bon voyage. Hunter was excited to leave and proudly showed off the RV to all his pals, though I don't think he really understood what 'moving' actually meant and that we wouldn't be back for a good long while. What I found to be the most curious event of the whole evening was that Eric and Owen spent a lot of the party looking at the internals of the RV's engine so that Owen could hopefully create his own version of the motor.

Although, Eric did tell me later that if he saw Owen look at me like a sad wounded animal one more time, he was liable to get fangy. Men.

That same night, I pulled Bec aside and quietly informed her that my fairy brethren agreed to pop me over between Morro Bay and River Rock for the odd visit, provided I could stay fairly incognito. I really didn't want to miss seeing the baby once it was born, and I had a feeling Hunter would miss seeing Abby terribly. She told me she'd happily keep it a secret and that she'd tell Johnny and warn him gently, since it took him long enough to wrap my head around my telepathy, let alone the idea I could be popped from one side of the country to another.

We set out on a mild Thursday evening and wended our away slowly west across America. I took up watercolor to try and paint the amazing landscapes, though I was just shocking at it. After a week or so Eric found me a digital camera that could be charged through the RV's cigarette lighter. I still kept up the watercolor. It was interesting to see the same landscapes again years later but through a different lens. I'd traveled through many of the same states when I'd first left Louisiana, but it had been in a fugue of shock and with a toddler who was also recovering from a trauma. I'd been terrified of encountering vampires on the hunt and humans looking for supplies, so my focus had purely been that of survival.

And now? I had a vampire of my own. Hunter was five and with what seemed like enough energy to fuel the RV all on his own, if only I could find some way to put it to use. This time I felt like a tourist.

Through the days, Hunter and I explored towns and hiked old trails, swam in rivers and built fires to cook dinner on. We drove only when we were ready to move on. I didn't forget to bring Hunter's enchanted mirror and, sweet baby Jesus, what a blessing that invention was. Two telepaths trapped in an RV for two months sounds like a bad joke.

Once Hunter was asleep for the evening, Eric and I would take a lantern and camp chairs up onto the top of the RV and settle in for the evening. We'd read to one another, or star gaze, discuss our route for the following day, talk long into the night about everything and nothing and make love under the stars.

Eric drove us into Morro Bay on a clear summer night. It was like driving back in time. There were cars on the street, though not many; the streetlights and the few traffic lights were all operational. He slowed down as we passed Pam's bar which was simply called _Pam's_ – a fact entirely in keeping with what I knew of my vampire gal pal. If anyone was going to name their business after themselves, it'd be her.

We drove a little ways east to the farmlands that bordered the town, then down a windy dirt road before pulling up to a large Spanish colonial style home that was the color of sand and featured an impressive cactus garden out front.

"Is this it?" I asked, batting him excitedly on the arm. He'd been teasing me about the place he'd found for us to live but hadn't given me any details.

"Just be patient…" he said and parked out front. We checked Hunter was sleeping soundly and got out of the RV.

"Close your eyes," he whispered into my ear. His arms circled around my waist, and I shut my eyes. I wasn't sure what to expect but I could feel him practically thrumming with excitement. I gasped softly as we gently lifted off solid ground into the air. A moment later we landed on a flat surface and when I opened my eyes again, I discovered we were at the back of the home, standing on a small private balcony jutting off a second-story bedroom. "Can you see?" he said, turning me to face the balcony's view.

It was dark but as my eyes adjusted in the moonlight, I saw a large orchard rolling out against a backdrop of vivid starlight. There were no hills in the distance, so the sky's expanse spread out endlessly like an enormous glittering blanket above and all around us.

"It's stunning," I said, though the word really didn't do it justice.

"Oranges. Limes. Coffee. Persimmon. Avocados. All yours for the taking," he said. My jaw dangled. No wonder he had been excited. "The town is walking distance and there are no neighbors for a mile either side," he continued.

He gave me a moment to absorb this. I truly needed it.

"It's perfect," I said. I pictured Hunter running through the orchard with his friends under the bright sunshine, climbing trees and their echoing shouts of excitement. I pictured late nights under starlight with my lover. And this feeling, this very one, captured and repeated over and over for years to come.

"So what do you think? Is this the right place to start?"

"To start over?" I asked and looked up at him.

"To start your forever."

I bit my lip and smiled at him, tears blurring my vision. "Honey, I think it started the day you walked into my life."

"You mean when you stumbled into mine half-dead?"

"Eh, potato, po-tah-to."

"Woman, you've got some cheek," he growled. He lifted me up and sat on me on the balcony's railing so that I faced him. "I distinctly remember you begging me for help. Begging for my blood, in fact."

I trailed a finger down the front of his t-shirt. "Oh, I bet you loved that. Swooping in to save the damsel in distress. I hope you committed it to memory, it'll never happen again."

"I could make you beg again if I wanted to," he said with a smile dark and wicked. I hopped off the railing and stepped out of his grasp.

"We'll see," I said lightly. I opened the balcony door and held out my hand to him. "Listen, are you just going to stand around sassing me all night, or are you gonna give me a tour of this house?"

He chuckled and took my hand. "Yes, Sookie," he said, and together we walked inside.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks for all the support! I hope you enjoyed the end to this series.

If you're curious about the titles, here's where I got them from:

A Change of Worlds: I took the title from a quote (which I later realised was actually mis-attributed) from Chief Seattle who was a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish Native American tribes. The exact quote is: "There is no death, only change of worlds." In 1855, he famously wrote a letter ceding tribal lands to then governor of Washington. This quote was believed to have come from this letter, but was later proved to have been a fictional addition to the letter in a made-for-TV movie.

A Handful of Earth: This one does legitimately have Native American origins. It's a line from a Hopi prayer. The exact quote is: "Hold on to what is good, even if it is a handful of earth."

For those of you who may be interested, I'm currently working on two other SVM fics. I'm aiming to begin posting them early next year. I know it's a little while away, but I have to finish writing my thesis first! For a little more info on those stories, check out my profile.


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